


Everlasting∞demisE

by orphan_account



Series: Everlasting∞demisE [2]
Category: Vocaloid, 終焉ノ栞プロジェクト | Shuuen no Shiori Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Crossover, Multi, spoiler: everyone dies, spoilerX2: but not really, spoilerX3: if you think you know who the fox is... think again!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-03 08:22:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5283605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Occult Film Club, the pride of the school and loved by parents, teachers, and students alike. At the peak of their fame, however, the group disbanded after a certain incident took the life of its leader, and thus the five friends were shrouded in rumours of demise...</p>
<p>Until one new student transfers to the school and reveals to his four friends, his version of the truth.</p>
<p>The real events of the eternity in a moment, a year ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The First Regret

**Author's Note:**

> what happens when i read shuuenpro fanfics while listening to the badendnight song series and skiming through the evillious novels? this shit happens  
> just a warning: i have absolutely NO experience writing them demise deadkids, so major oocness might be a prevalent thing throughout this whole project; also i have not caught up with canon novel/manga material, so there's that too  
> also, warning for this chapter: death and eye horror-ish? ...yeahhh baby, expect a lot of that to happen  
> also personal headcanon that aya secretly loves being the center of attention, and that the filmclub kids suffered some... personality changes when eki "died".

It started off like any other of their movie projects, though E-ki seemed vehemently against it at first. Which was really strange, all things considered, because he was the one who showed the script to them in the first place, albeit it being rather… Incomplete.

Basically, the script ended rather abruptly after the final scene of Act 3, left without an ending, a conclusion.

And what is movie without an end? How could it be a play, without a conclusion to the story?

A-no yelled at him for not finishing what he promised to do, and then punched him in the gut after he told them that they could just make it up as they go along.

“What kind of a playwright are you?! A script without a determined resolution is... is  _blasphemy!_  Sacrilege!”

“Owowow…”

The redhead’s sentiment was shared by the other core members of the club, however, and E-ki had to do some very intense pleading and promising so that they would agree to his plan.

D-suke, well, a few extra bags of chips certainly helped win over his favour. C-na as well, when E-ki informed her of the horror aspect that her character would embody. It didn’t take much to convince B-ka either, as E-ki found out when the smaller boy quite literally trembled with joy (or fear?) when E-ki explained to him in detail of what they were going to do.

He suspected it  _might_  have something to do with B-ka’s crush on him, but oh well. He'll deal with that later.

A-no only needed to hit him one more time before she agreed. And then one more after he estimated the total production time would take around two weeks.

“ _Two weeks?!_  I’m not going to devote my entire schedule to this goddamned play, you know that?!”

“Alright, alright! We’ll take the full two months, just—gah, don’t hit me again!”

Evading the redhead’s thrown punch, the golden-eyed boy cheerfully pumped his fists in the air, exuding his excitement.

“Now that that’s done and over with, I’ll inform the rest of the club of our plans, okay? We’ll make the best movie for the Culture Festival this school has ever seen!!! Three cheers for the Occult Film Club!”

* * *

Things proceeded smoothly after that. With the help of the club’s other members, the five managed to stockpile everything they needed, from the various elaborate outfits to the recording equipment.

“Speaking of, who’s gonna be the cameraman?”

“1-kun here, reporting for duty! And you’re helping out with the costumes, right?”

“Yup. Quite the hassle, really. But seeing those five act… Makes it all worth it.”

“Yeah, they’re really something! Hey, 0-chan, can you help me move this over there?”

“Sure. On one, two… Three!”

With a grunt, the two students pushed the prop into place, all the while the chitter-chatter of the other stagehands buzzed in their ears like white noise. Silently, they reflected on the club’s humble beginnings, and how it all started with one boy would quite literally wouldn’t shut up about movie-making.

The Occult Film Club gained many members after it shot up in popularity, but before it became well-known in and even out of the school, there were only five people in the group, four second-years and one first-year student.

It was the first-year student, E-ki’s idea to create the club in the first place, ever since the five found out that they all shared something in common: a love for horror films and the occult. And when they screened their first movie, "High-Class Apartment Park", at the school's theater, parents, teachers, and students alike became enamoured with their amateur yet well-produced film.

Since then, the Occult Film Club quickly gained members and fans throughout the neighbourhood, but none were quite as close-knit as the original friends A-no, B-ka, C-na, D-suke, and E-ki.

None of the other members envied them for being the center of attention either; rather, they had endless praise for E-ki and his friends for being so passionate in their hobby; E-ki for his ingenious plots and fantastic stories based off of famous urban legends, and the other four for their dedication and commitment to the characters they play.

Truly, they were inseparable friends with an unwavering bond rooted in trust.

* * *

“You  _stole_  my novel outline to make your stupid play!”

“I- I had to! I ran out of ideas, there weren’t any new rumours that felt interesting enough, I needed a script, fast!”

“You could have asked for help! You could have asked  _me_  for help, like you always do! You didn’t have to  _steal_  it!”

“I was panicking, okay?! The deadline was getting closer and I really had no—“

“Shut up, not another word from you! You were always the  _better_  one, the  _smarter_  one, the  _more passionate_  one… I looked up to  _you_ … And you—you just—“

“Please, just let me  _explain!_  I can fix it, I know how to make it up to you, I have a plan, please, please, please, just  _listen_  to me—“

“                                         “

* * *

Alice in Everland, Act 3, final scene. The other actors and stagehands watched, entranced, as the golden-eyed boy danced along to the upbeat melody, with his four friends accompanying on the sidelines.

The main character, the lead role of the play, the Dream laughed as he took center stage, dresses and coats fluttering everywhere as the three-beat piano rhythm increased in speed to a frantic shuffle-swing, adding to the exhilarating atmosphere of the scene.

One-two-three, one-two-three, and then a sudden record scratch is heard on cue as the mood shifted to a more ominous feeling, the four Alices moving to surround the Dream with menacing, almost maniacal grins on their faces.

“Well, _which **enD**_? Which enD will YOu choose?”

“THIS way, THAT way? Left, right, DOWN, or _high **UP** aBOVE_?”

“EverLAND won’t LAST _for **eVER**_ , little DREAM!”

“Or WILL it? Aha, aHA, _aHaHA **haHAhA~!**_ ”

Frightened out of his wits, the Dream snatched the golden key of the hands of the purple-eyed Alice and ran up, up, up the winding stairs, trying to escape the warped Neverland, but the four Alices quickly gained on him, outstretched hands trying to reach for the wayward Dream and pull him back down into their endless world.

With the lens of the camera capturing their every move, and with everyone else watching with bated breaths, the Dream turned around mid-step and faced his pursuers with wild eyes, holding the golden key out in front of him as if it were a blade.

“You _left US for **dead**_ , little DREAM!” the crimson-dressed First Alice sneered, taking a step towards the trembling boy.

“You TRICKED us, and aBANdoned US!” the monocle-wearing Third Alice leered, grabbing onto one of the boy’s legs as he tried in vain to scramble away.

“You’re _noTHING but **a TRAITOR**_ , a FOX!” the tallest Second Alice jeered, looming over the cowering boy with a malicious gleam in his barely-visible eyes.

“We can’t _**TRUST** you anyMORE_ , Dream…” the purple-eyed Fourth Alice muttered sorrowfully, with the voice of someone betrayed by a close friend; someone deeply, deeply hurt.

“Who… Who’s the real fox here?! I can’t… I can’t—!”

Screams, and then the smell of burning wood.

* * *

“                                         ”

Just as he uttered his character’s final line before the scripted curtain-fall, out of the corner of his eye, E-ki managed to catch a glance of something that knocked the breath out of his lungs, stealing his attention, jolting him out of the world of the play and returning him to reality.

And into the  _eternity of a moment_.

A mistimed step, a breathless gasp, the golden key’s sharpened end glinting in the spotlight.

Golden eyes glimmered with tears; of fear or of betrayal? E-ki’s eyes widened in the single moment before his feet left the staircase’s steep step and sent him careening into a spiralling freefall, knocking over one of the many lit candles that had served to add to the mood of the scene, instead becoming the catalyst of flames that quickly caught fire on the other props, spreading through the stage.

Screams, his voice warped and tinted with a crazed tone, E-ki twisted around in mid-air to point the golden key in his hands at the audience; rather, at a  _specific person_  in the audience.

Screams, from the four desperately reaching out to him, from the many watching the spectacle unfold before them, from the one frozen to the spot in shock and fear and awe at the horrific beauty of the scene playing before them, resounded through the night sky, accompanied by the crackle of the flames that spread through the whole theater building in the blink of an eye, licking and roaring at the heels of the other students who had already turned tail and fled.

A sickening thud echoed through the area, followed shortly by a bloodcurdling scream. D-suke acted quickly, pulling B-ka into his chest and covering the smaller boy’s eyes to spare him from the gory sight. A-no clapped her hands to her mouth, feeling the bile rise up in her throat as she fought to keep it down.

Even C-na, notorious for her calm responses to even the vilest of things, visibly flinched, tentatively taking a step, and then another, before rushing down the stairs to assess the situation with trembling hands.

“Guys!” she called out frantically, waving over A-no, 1-kun and 0-chan. “Come on, we need to get him outta here, to a hospital,  _something_ —!“

B-ka shook, standing rooted to the spot, curious to find out what happened but also too scared to move. All he heard was E-ki uttering his character’s final line before the script’s cliffhanger ending of Act 1, followed by the  _splat_  of something forcefully hitting the ground. D-suke, using the calmest and gentlest voice he could muster, quietly led the smaller boy down the stairs, reassuring him with hushed whispers and mumbles.

“It’s okay, everything’s fine, I need you to go find the teachers, get them to call an ambulance and the fire department, okay?” the taller boy shakily murmured in his ears, taking his hands off B-ka’s face once they had reached the entrance to the main school building before running back to aid his friends.

“W- wait, D-suke, what happe—“ B-ka called out, before all the blood drained from his face and he turned as pale as a ghost. He spun around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him into the school, pushing and shoving against the sea of other students trying to rush outside, begging the image to leave his mind before it could burn itself into the back of his eyelids.

E-ki, blood, mangled legs bent far beyond the usual human limit, a golden key embedded  _in his eye_ —

“                                         ”

He whimpered, the tears falling uselessly as the sounds of chaos and the fire’s vicious crackle melted away into nothingness, dyeing the world in black.

* * *

A rumour of betrayal, it was said that the five friends lost their trust in each other, right before the lead role’s tragic end.

The words spun around sluggishly in A-ya’s head, words that he picked up from hushed whispers and quiet mutterings, from empty corridors and silent hallways.

Words he himself said in order to seed chaos amongst the first-years accompanying him in his daily school life.

The first thing the red-eyed boy did when he entered the prestigious highschool was test the waters with a few easily-believable lies,  _"hey, did you know this, did you know that, did you know the other thing? don't tell anyone i said it, but..."_ , observing how it spread through the school via the students’ pointless chatter. It certainly helped that C-ta managed to get into the same school as him; so devoted was the brunet boy that A-ya could practically ask anything of him and he would gladly perform it to the best of his ability.

It did feel kind of wrong, to be taking advantage of his childhood friend in such a way, but A-ya wasn’t the type to pass up on an opportunity once he saw one.

And it wasn’t long before he had managed to recruit B-ko and D-ne to join his pursuit of evading the boring, mundane days. D-ne wasn’t that hard to convince, especially after he had roped the popular B-ko into his tangled web of rumourmongering. Why B-ko gave in so easily though, he had no idea. Except, maybe…

A-ya suspected it had something to do with B-ko’s crush on him, but _that_ was another rumour for another day.

Once he had assembled the group together, whereby C-ta immediately started to refer to themselves as the Rumours Club, a name which both B-ko and D-ne vehemently opposed, A-ya began researching the school’s history in order to find out the juiciest and most scandalous bits of facts in order to spin them into lies.

He didn’t even have to look that far back, having smuggled himself into the restricted section of the school library. Dated from just around a year ago, a newspaper article clipping caught his eye.

“Four students traumatized, one dead, a catastrophic failure to produce a play based on urban legends and the occult, school theater destroyed in a fire and left abandoned… Heh…”

A-ya couldn’t remember it clearly, but he was absolutely sure that in that one moment, his face bore the crazed expression of one achieving their personal utopia, or of one betrayed by his closest friends.

He couldn’t decide which fit better, drawn into the eternity of a moment.

* * *

“So it’s agreed, then?” the red-eyed boy muttered, crossing out the points on his mental checklist. “B-ko, you get to say that they’ve been tricked by their friend’s doppelgänger, alright?”

“Always the lookalikes with me,” B-ko grumbled, folding her arms across her chest, “and didn’t you spread a rumour about _my_ shadow twin appearing just a week ago?”

“Are you really still angry about that?” sighed A-ya, slowly shaking his head. “…Anyways, C-ta gets to claim that they all got a text from Mearry telling them not to trust their friend.”

“’Aight, I’ll make sure to make it really _reaaally_ believable!” C-ta cheerfully replied, giving A-ya a wink and a thumbs-up. “I’ll even start a chain-mail text about it, okay?”

“That sounds good.” A-ya nodded, taking out his cellphone to quickly type out a memo so that he wouldn’t forget C-ta’s addition. “D-ne, your lie is that they tried to use the Monkey’s Paw to defy the fate of their friend’s death, but they failed. _Horribly._ ”

The long-haired girl giggled, daintily curling a finger under her chin in a deep-in-thought gesture. “Ehehee, if B-ko-chan thinks it’s cool, then sure~! I’ll see what I can do…”

“Aaand that leaves me with the false script and betrayal story.”

“Eh?” C-ta blinked, cocking his head to the side. “Weren’t you supposed to say that it was all a game of multiplayer one-man hide and seek gone wrong, A-ya?”

“Too unbelievable.” A-ya responded, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. “Five friends playing multiplayer one-man hide and seek in front of a bunch of other students? While being  _filmed?_  On a stage in the school theater? Even 1-chan and 0-kun don’t believe it, and those two usually eat up  _every single lie_  I feed to them.”

“Really? How pathetic.” C-ta smiled, but inwardly he was fuming. Why was A-ya spending so much time with those two? The tattletale and the sports freak didn’t amount to much, in his eyes. A-ya should be spending more time with **him**!

D-ne noticed the subtle shift in C-ta’s expression and gave a quiet, amused chuckle. The green-eyed boy was so easy to rile up, even over the littlest of things… Well, she supposed that the same could be said about her, especially when it came to matters concerning B-ko.

B-ko, B-ko, B-ko… Why did she have to have a crush on _A-ya_ , of all people? Boys are stupid, D-ne thought, so by right B-ko should be spending more time with **her** instead of these two, but… c’est la vie. Such is life.

“Alright, do your best.” As red eyes met green, purple and blue, A-ya blinked slowly, feeling a lopsided smirk creep up onto his face. “The second- and third-years in this school  _really_  don’t like talking about what happened a year ago, but that won’t stop us from spreading this rumour among the first-years. Sooner or later, someone’ll snap and start trying to spread the truth.” Taking a deep breath, A-ya let his smirk curl into an outright malicious-looking grin, eyes wide open in manic excitement.

“And when they do, that’s when we strike. I want to know. Every.  _Single. **Detail.**_  Of this incident a year ago. The accident. The supposed betrayal. The judgement by fire. The lead role’s horrible,  _horrible_  death. The real truth!”

A chill travelled up the other three’s spines as they witnessed their normally-stoic friend reveal his true nature, that of a manipulative liar fixated on unwanted truths in order to escape from an endless, everyday routine. What could they have gotten themselves into…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the story. The opening act.
> 
> Behind the window's glass was a cloudy sky. A summer that has not yet started. There were many different versions of a single rumour being spread around.
> 
> No one knew the truth. No, nobody should have known about it.
> 
> Neither the first-, second- or even the third-year students, nor the parents or teachers of the school, knew of what had transpired in that transient eternity in a moment.
> 
> Just that, even if things had turned out differently, it is said that the lead roles would still have fallen to their demise.
> 
> Somewhere, someone is still crying.
> 
> ...I bet that everyone is still hoping for those last words, desperate for a better ending, for a different conclusion to the dream.
> 
> The true ending is already approaching, even amongst all these bad ends, so...
> 
> "Let’s try it one more time."


	2. Act 1.1: Rumours of Demise

“Did you hear?”

“’Bout what? The movie incident? Isn’t that old news?”

“Yes, well… You know how the seniors don’t like talking about it, right?”

“Yeah… Why d’you ask?”

“Well, I heard that it’s because they actually killed the lead role on purpose. Y'know, jealousy and all that... But then they felt guilty, so they tried using the Monkey’s Paw to bring him back, and, well… he  _came back_  alright, but definitely not the way they wanted him to; all bloody guts and crushed bones.”

“Dude, that’s so sick…”

“Yeah, so they had to kill him again, and then they tried using another wish to revive him, but the same thing happened… Basically, they wasted all five wishes trying to get this guy back to life, despite the fourth time around the dude was pretty much  _begging_  them not to.”

“Seriously? Wow, it’s kinda, like, fucked up, how obsessed with their friend they were…”

A-no felt a nerve threatening to burst somewhere, clenching her fists so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to ignore the two boys so casually discussing the incident a year ago as they passed by her in the hallway. How dare they…!

Grunting a curse under her breath, she waited until most of the students had cleared away from the area, before heading towards an area supposed to be restricted from them, but no amount of warnings and danger signs were going to stop her from going there, weren’t they?

And if, by any chance, someone foolish enough tried to attempt to block her in any way, well, they’d have to contend themselves with talking to her fists instead.

“That girl’s really scary.” “What a delinquent.” “I heard that she joined a gang.” “No wonder she lost her best friend.”

She’d grown weary of talking to them, responding to their fake words of pity and ego-inflating attempts at comforting her.

Who knows how long _they’ll_ stick around before they _inevitably **leave her behind** , too?_

* * *

“Hey, wait up!”

“What took you so long? I’ve been waiting for ten minutes!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just worrying about something I heard, that’s all.”

“Hm? What’s there to worry about?”

“They’re saying that Mearry has made a comeback, she’s already texting and calling random numbers—“

“Hold on, did you say  _comeback?_  It’s not like Mearry’s done anything before, right?”

“Didn’t you hear? Four members of some old film club of the school got texted by her a year ago! The texts warned them not to trust their friend, the lead role of the play, but they  _didn’t listen._  Hell, they even thought that it was their friend pulling a prank on them!”

“So you’re saying, Mearry was the reason…?”

“Yeah, they kept getting texts that they just ignored until the night of the last scene they were supposed to film. When the lead role answered a call from an unknown number, they say he went crazy and tried to kill them all!”

“Wait, but wasn’t the lead role was the one who died that night?”

“They pushed him off the stairs, of course! How else would you react if someone you really trusted suddenly turned on you and tried to  _kill_ you?!”

“God, that’s so creepy… guess I’ll have to be more careful with unknown callers from now on, huh.”

“Yeah, who knows… maybe Mearry wasn’t satisfied with just one death.”

B-ka’s eyes narrowed, lowering his gaze so that the other students couldn’t see his expression drastically darkening. That girl and that boy, just casually talking about the incident a year ago… Feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket, the purple-eyed boy took it out and glanced at the notifications.

One text, from an unknown sender.

**Click.**

Flipping his phone shut so hard that the students around him jumped in surprise, visibly startled by the loud sound, B-ka felt the emotion welling up deep in the pit of his stomach multiply by a trillion-fold, if such a thing was possible.

He was glad that the other students had started to avoid crossing his path ever since  _that_  day; whether it was out of pity, fear, or some concoction of both, B-ka couldn’t tell, but he was glad for it nonetheless.

It made it so much easier to sneak to his destination without being noticed by anyone, without any of his so-called  _friends_  trying to stop him with small talk and pointless distractions. But the worst was the ones where they…

“What a pity.” “We’re sorry for your loss.” “Must be painful, losing your best friend.” “At least it wasn’t you, right?”

He  _hated_  it.  _He **hated**  them all._

* * *

“There’s been a lot of rumours floating around recently…”

“Yeah, and I don’t know about you, but the seniors keep giving us dirty looks. I saw a girl practically glaring daggers at you the other day.”

“Seriously? Man, if I knew the students of this school were this unfriendly, I wouldn’t have enrolled here, no matter how good they say it is.”

“Same here. Speaking of, I heard that one of the reasons the second- and third-years don’t like us that much is because of  _that_  incident.”

“What, the play-movie accident?”

“Yeah. They say that the director and leader of the club was a transfer student, and when he came here, he brought along his doppelgänger.”

“Wait, what the hell? That’s ridiculous.”

“Hold on, I haven’t finished yet. They say that everyone but him noticed the shadow twin following him everywhere, but no matter what his friends said,  _he didn’t believe them._  And then, on the night of the incident, the doppelgänger killed him and took his place, and nobody realised until it was too late.”

“Too late?”

“Mm-hm. The friends went crazy after finding out, and they pushed the doppelgänger off the stairs on the movie set. I heard that none of them really recovered from the shock of being deceived by their friend’s shadow twin.”

“So that’s why the seniors don’t trust us? ‘Cause they’re afraid of someone’s doppelgänger appearing and tricking them again?”

“More or less, heh. Kinda makes you feel sorry for them.”

“Yeah, but it’s their fault too. They should’ve tried to convince their friend harder or take turns guarding and protecting him or... or something.”

As the two girls walked away chattering endlessly on, C-na let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Not the type of horror story she wanted to hear about at all, but still, their words piqued her interest. Taking out her notebook and hastily scribbling a few things on it, she turned around and began walking, ignoring the annoyed mutters of the students bumping into her and banging their shoulders against hers.

Doppelgänger, shadow twin, the incident a year ago…

As much as it pained her to be reminded of the terrible accident that befell them that day, C-na’s thoughts couldn’t help but wander to the occult-related parts of the rumour.

Could it be true? His last words  _were_  rather suspect, especially when considering the almost-insane tone his voice took on in  _that moment._

“                                         “

C-na shivered, shaking her head to clear the muddled thoughts from her mind. No way, there was just no way a shadow twin could have taken his place before the filming of the last scene. She trusted him, they all did!

…But did he trust them?

No no no! She couldn’t let some stupid random rumour taint the image of their friend, no matter… how plausible it sounded…

Her knees wobbled as she made her way to the hideout she deemed her special place. There, she was free from the words that so often stabbed into her back without mercy, never enough to kill but still hurting like hell, a trillion papercuts on her already scarred body.

“Her hobby is… unique, to say the least.” “Occult rituals? Weirdo.” “She won’t shut up about it!” “Horror freak.”

It definitely wasn’t her fault, that was certain! Before she even met him, she already had a fascination for all things scary. And then, meeting him was like finding an oasis in a desert, or an angel in the pits of hell. Finally, someone who shared their passions! Somebody she could freely discuss things with! A friend they could  _trust_!

_A friend that didn’t trust **them** , in the end?_

* * *

D-suke felt like punching a wall. All these first-years talking on and on about that day, circulating the rumours with reckless abandon. They didn’t know what had transpired that night; they weren’t even in the school that year! So what gave them to right to spread all these horrible lies?!

His stomach made a gurgling noise, the acid churning painfully inside. Fuck, not again…

How many days was it this time? He couldn’t recall; ever since the incident, the hours always seemed to fly by so fast or crawl along so slowly that he lost track of his sense of time, and with it his mealtime schedule. It didn’t take long before D-suke gave up entirely on maintaining his diet, only eating when he was practically doubling over in pain from starvation.

Ruffling through his bag, the blue-eyed boy cursed heavily under his breath, realising that he’d left his lunchbox at home. Just his luck. And he didn’t bring any extra money too, so he couldn’t get anything from the canteen or the vending machines.

“Damnit.” D-suke muttered miserably, clutching at his empty stomach. Just then, a wrapped hamburger appeared before his eyes. Was he hallucinating from the hunger, or…?

“Take it. You look like you’re starving.”

Unsure what to do, D-suke looked up to see piercing red eyes, a much more vibrant hue than what he had ever seen before.

“Uh… thanks…”

Reaching out and taking the offered food, D-suke watched as the red-eyed boy turned around and went back to his three friends. The green-eyed boy seemed extremely upset at what the red-eyed just did, but his expression immediately brightened when the red-eyed boy produced another hamburger from his bag, while the two girls accompanying them simply sweatdropped.

Tearing open the wrapper and taking a bite, D-suke continued observing the four, noting how the red-eyed boy seemed to be the leader of the group. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar… Oh, the other three were leaving already?

D-suke stiffened as the red-eyed boy walked back to him, taking a seat next to him on the wooden bench. He looked down and felt a red heat rising to his cheeks as he realised that he had already finished off the hamburger, holding only the sauce-stained wrapper in his hands.

“You eat fast.”

“...Hungry.”

“Hn.”

Rolling the plastic-paper in his hands up into a ball, D-suke aimed and threw it, letting out a pleased hum as it flawlessly entered the nearby trash can.

“A-ya.”

“Uh—what?”

“My name. A-ya. What’s yours?”

“…D-suke.”

D-suke fiddled with his fingers, not noticing how A-ya’s eyes widened and then narrowed immediately afterwards.

“So… Thanks.”

“Hn?”

“For the food.”

“No problem, wasn’t really hungry today anyway… Say, have you heard?”

Ugh. Not this again. D-suke mentally sighed, preparing himself for another round of slander spread by a first-year who didn’t know the whole story. Just when he thought this A-ya person could have been a reasonable, sensible one too.

“What? Of the incident a year ago? I was _there_ , for god’s sake.”

“Really? Then tell me, are the rumours about you guys true?”

“Look, kid, I really don’t feel comfortable talking abou—“

“ _Did you kill him on purpose?_ ”

D-suke paled, whatever words on their way out of his throat choked off from escaping. He took a deep breath, before turning to stare A-ya in the eyes, pushing down the anger threatening to spill out of him like boiling hot oil.

“No! _'Course not_!”

“Then you didn’t betray him? You didn’t force him to steal someone else’s script and claim it as his own? You didn’t make him feel guilty to the point of suicide?!”

His wrath got the better of him; before he knew it, D-suke was yanking A-ya by the collar, glaring with hateful eyes at the other boy’s malicious grin and the spite glinting in his red irises.

“Shut. Up. Before I _make_ you shut up.”

“Hey, hey, no need to get so worked up. All I needed was a yes or no.”

Chuckling, A-ya put his hands up in a gesture of surrender, straightening his blazer after D-suke released his grip on him. Letting out a scoff, he nodded at D-suke before heading off in the direction of the library.

“Damnit…”

D-suke chewed on his lower lip, regretting letting his temper get the better of him. Now the first-years had even more reason to be suspicious of the seniors; D-suke felt hawk-like eyes watching his every move as he exited the canteen and walked towards an area sealed off with police tape.

He needed to clear his mind, and there was only one place where he could go and do so.

The abandoned theater building loomed menacingly before him, charred wood peeking through where the builders gave up repairing the damage and left it to rot. Still, the building was mostly intact and most of what the fire had destroyed had already been repaired or covered up, save for the spiral staircase which bore the brunt of several burn marks, too rickety and fragile to be salvaged.

There, on the stage without an audience since the incident a year ago, blue eyes met purple, green and red.

* * *

Bright golden eyes, a cheerful smile.

“Is it rolling?”

“Yeah! Keep going! More, more!”

The young child struck a few more poses, giggling all the while.

“Don’t you wanna do it too?”

“It’s okay! I like being behind the lens, not in front!”

Innocent laughter filled the air. Golden eyes closed in satisfied merriment, lips curled into a small grin.

“Besides, E-ki’s the one who’s good at acting!”

“Not true! I know _you’re_ good at it too!”

“Not as good as E-ki though!”

“Liar! Now you have to promise me that you’ll take part in my movie, someday!”

“Bleh, maybe! But for now, you’re the star of the screenplay, okay?”

“Alright…”

Bright golden eyes, a not-so-cheerful smile.

_Click._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was silent for a moment.
> 
> Just what had happened in that eternity in a moment...?
> 
> One year ago, one year after, and the fake world in between, I felt that there was a definite connection between those three points in time.
> 
> "...You... who the hell are you...?"
> 
> "My name is—"


	3. Act 1.2: Alice in nEverland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how do you write enoru???? we just dont know

Bright golden eyes, accompanied by a not-so-cheerful smile, watched as the cobalt-haired boy grabbed the red-eyed boy’s collar and glared at him with ferocity so intense that the other students mingling around them immediately took two or three steps back, eyeing the third-year boy warily.

Words full of malice slung themselves around, uncaring whether they went unheard or were picked up with the most observant of attentions.

The blue-eyed boy released his grip, storming off in one direction as the other student walked away in another, and slowly the atmosphere in the canteen’s courtyard returned to how it was before, only with a tense feeling that permeated the now-heavy air.

Already the muttered mumbles had begun, spreading lies of the one with blue eyes.

“It’s his fault.” “The lead role died because of them.” “No wonder the seniors won’t say anything to us.” “Traitors.”

 _ **Traitors**_ , indeed.

…A hand reached out to open the door to the familiar unknown.

* * *

The door clattered noisily as it swung shut, leaned against by a brunet with irritation obvious in his striking green eyes. The girl in front of him cast a whimsical smile his way, legs lazily dangling off the large wooden desk’s surface.

“Oh, it seems that you and I are early today, how unusual.” D-ne said callously, tucking a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear. “B-ko said she wanted to try and spread her rumour a little bit more before she comes here.”

“Good for her, then.” C-ta huffed, crossing his arms and pointedly avoiding the girl’s gaze. “A-ya’s being weird again. He keeps hanging around that third-year student, the no-eyes one. I don’t like it.”

“So? I don’t like you, and you seem to take it fine.” The girl retorted without missing a beat, grinning at how C-ta’s face twisted into an ugly scowl. “Relax. He’s just doing his thing. It’s just you that’s reading too much into stuff.”

“Am not.”

“ _Riiight._ ”

An awkward silence settled between the both of them, before C-ta cleared his throat and gave D-ne a side-eyed glance.

“So.”

“So?”

“You think… This whole… Searching for the ‘truth’ thing… A-ya’s caught up _way_ too deep in it, right?”

The girl raised an eyebrow, amused by the worried tone seeping into C-ta’s voice. He probably didn’t even realise how concerned his expression looked. Ah, C-ta, C-ta, C-ta, your ulterior motives… they couldn’t get any more transparent than they already were, could they?

Boys are so stupid, sometimes.

“Pretty much, but if you’re  _so_  worried about him, why don’t you  _stop_  him from doing all this?”

“He’s enjoying himself so much, I… I haven’t seen him smile like _that_ since we were kids! I can’t take this away from him…”

“So you watch over him instead. Let him be happy, and you get to fulfil your _hero complex_.”

“Hero co—I don’t have a—!”

“Or should I have said  _‘stalk him’_ , instead? Hmm…”

“ **Shut up.** ”

D-ne let her grin drop into a twisted smirk, blue eyes twinkling at the sight of a flustered and very angry C-ta, green eyes ablaze with hatred. He raised a fist, moving closer to hit the blue-eyed girl and—

* * *

“Sorry for being late!”

B-ko barged into the room, dragging behind her a laughing A-ya and another boy, one C-ta and D-ne couldn’t recognize. C-ta immediately backed away from D-ne, instead rushing to the red-eyed boy and fussing over him, glancing at the strange newcomer over his shoulder.

D-ne shifted over to the side, waving at B-ko and petting the now-empty spot beside her, offering the purple-eyed girl a seat. B-ko blushed and gave a small smile, daintily moving around the three boys to sit on the teacher’s desk with D-ne.

“Who’s _that_?” D-ne whispered, gesturing to the unfamiliar student with one hand while gently holding B-ko’s shoulder with the other, pulling her closer and relishing the shared warmth between them.

“Don’t know, but I saw A-ya talking to him.” B-ko whispered back, watching A-ya complain as C-ta playfully ruffled his hair, leaving the newcomer standing awkwardly off to one side. “Well, more like A-ya laughing and him looking confused... Or rather, happy? Then I noticed the time and decided to just haul them both here.”

The strange student walked up to C-ta and patted his shoulder, getting both his and A-ya’s attention. C-ta frowned as A-ya immediately detached himself from C-ta grasp and slung an arm around the other boy, grinning from ear to ear.

“Guys, meet our newest club member.” A-ya energetically announced, a pleased smile gracing his features as B-ko, C-ta and D-ne’s eyes widened in confusion.

“Waaait, _what_?” “Eh, why  _another_  one?! Aren’t the four of us enough?” “ _Huh_? But I thought…”

A-ya stepped forward to explain, but the newcomer was quicker, shoving A-ya aside, giving a slight bow and smiling.

“Hi. My name is E-noru, and from today onwards I’ll be in your care.”

“He’s a new transfer student.” A-ya continued, displeased at how E-noru suddenly decided to take the lead. After all, that was his role in the group, wasn’t it? “And he’ll be joining us because, well, I say so! C-ta, would you  _kindly_  please stop glaring like that at our new friend here?”

C-ta jumped, not realising how A-ya had noticed his very angry scowl directed at E-noru. Letting out an irritated huff, C-ta crossed his arms and forced an obviously-fake smile onto his lips, nodding at A-ya to continue.

“Thank you. Now, the other reason why I picked him. He knows—“

“E—my brother, he was the lead role in the play a year ago.” E-noru interrupted, letting a pained grimace settle on his expression, one that felt like he had practiced it so many times before. “I know the _real_ story behind his tragedy.”

* * *

Long ago, somewhere nobody knows, there was a single Dream. Nobody knew who had dreamt the Dream, or which fairytale it had come from. Such a little Dream it was.

The little Dream began to wonder, “Why am I alone? How can I get rid of this loneliness? Will I disappear, someday? How can I make people dream of me, and only me?”

The Dream thought and thought, and one day, it came up with an idea.

“Children don’t like it when they get nightmares, so I will let the children dream of me, and I will make them create my perfect world. They’ll have a place to escape to when they can’t sleep at night, and I’ll have friends to play with!”

And so, the little Dream decided to invite innocent children from everywhere and name them ‘Alice’, and together, they will create a ‘perfect’, never-ending world, Everland.

The First Alice, with her crimson dress fluttering in the light breeze, came upon the Dream in an endless forest. The Dream handed to her a scarlet-stained sword, and together, they sliced down everything in the way of their unyielding anger, seeking the unattainable ‘perfection’, leaving a bright red path in their wake.

But then, the Alice strayed too far into the woods, where her sins finally caught up to her and locked her away for good, trapped in a cage of her own vicious wrath.

And thus, the little Dream was left alone, with no sign of the First Alice having ever existed.

The Second Alice, with his striking blue eyes obscured by hair and hat, came upon the Dream during teatime. The Dream showed to him a scarlet-stained stage, and meekly, the notes of a requiem floated and resounded through the land, blossoming into the imitated ‘perfection’, leaving madness in its wake.

But then, the Alice himself was taken in by the song of madness he had weaved, and admired by all, the blue flowers of his heart withered away to the sound of a guillotine.

And thus, the little Dream was left alone yet again, with only a single flower petal to keep as a memento.

The Third Alice, with a monocle that augmented her image of sagacity, came upon the Dream in front of a castle. The Dream took her hands and lead her to the scarlet-stained throne, and upon placing the crown on her head, she began to deceive the people into happiness, creating a warped ‘perfection’, leaving ennui in her wake.

But then, the Alice was possessed by a strange vision that left her fearful of death and decay, and trying to escape from the hands of mortality, she became nothing more than a soulless shell of what she once was.

And thus, the little Dream was left alone once more, ruling from the summit of Everland.

Following the little path of red through the forest, drinking tea on the little red stage surrounded by flowers, having received an invitation letter from the palace, the Ace of Hearts…

The Fourth Alice wandered through Everland, having entered out of curiosity. Passing through countless doors, the timid boy came upon the little Dream locked in a tower, full of scarlet-stained letters. The little Dream invited him in, and they soon became the best of friends.

The Fourth Alice came the closest to achieving the ‘perfection’ the other Alices couldn’t, but…

One day, the little Dream had a nightmare.

“What if the Fourth Alice grows up and gets bored of me? Will he leave me too? Will I be lonely again?”

Despite everything it did, the visions wouldn’t leave the Dream’s mind, and it began to worry, thinking and thinking of a way so that it’ll never be lonely ever again.

“If I leave Everland and go to the real world, I can play with children all the time! Even if they grow up and leave me behind, there will always be a new Alice to play with.”

And so, the little Dream climbed up, up, up the stairs to escape from Everland. But before it could get its hands on the great wooden door that stood between it and the real world, the little Dream felt its sins crawling on its back; four little pairs of hands reached out for the selfish Dream.

“Where are you going, little Dream?” the crimson-dressed First Alice asked, the ugly red stitches encircling her neck a glaring reminder of the scarlet-stained sword that took her life.

“Aren’t you going to play with us?” the monocle-wearing Third Alice cried, luxurious dress fit for a queen reduced to nothing but tatters and a striking circle of rusty red around the waist which had once sat upon the scarlet-stained throne.

“You’re our only friend here, you know!” the tallest Second Alice wailed, melodious voice turned to a croaking warble, the noise half-exiting his lips and the other half seeping out from dark red slashes embroidering his throat, forever forbidding him from singing on the scarlet-stained stage ever again.

“Why don’t you trust us, Dream…?” the purple-eyed Fourth Alice whispered sadly, with the voice of someone betrayed by a close friend; someone deeply, deeply hurt. In his hands, the scarlet-stained invitation letter trembled slightly in the icy breeze, slender fingernails leaving crescent-moon marks on the paper bearing the Ace of Hearts.

The selfish Dream tore itself away from the four Alices, reaching out for the doorknob. But try as it might, the doorknob merely rattled and shook and turned and twisted and did everything… but open.

Why?

“Why not?”

The door…

“The door just won’t open, right?”

The door to the familiar unknown, why won’t it…?

“EheHEe… ehE… yahaHAha _HAHAhahAHAha **HaHAHAHAHA!!!**_ ”

The First, Second and Third Alices simply threw their heads back and laughed, as the Fourth Alice haltingly walked up to the Dream and took out something from the fold of the invitation letter he held, something dangling on a string.

A golden key.

“Do you want the door to open? The door to the familiar unknown?”

Terrified, the selfish Dream tried to snatch the key away from the Fourth Alice, but it was too late. The Fourth Alice threw the key over his shoulder, the small piece of metal clinking and clanking as it fell down the spiral staircase, back down into the endless world of Everland.

“You’re _LEAving_ US for **deaD** , aREN’T you, LITtle DREAM?” the crimson-dressed First Alice sneered, taking a step towards the trembling boy.

“You’re goING to _TRICK_ us, and **aBANdon** US!” the monocle-wearing Third Alice leered, grabbing onto one of the boy’s legs as he tried in vain to scramble away.

“You’re noTHING but a _TRAITOR_ , a **FOX**!” the tallest Second Alice jeered, looming over the cowering boy with a malicious gleam in his barely-visible eyes.

“We can’t **_TRUST_** you, can we? Selfish little Dream…” the purple-eyed Fourth Alice muttered sorrowfully, with the voice of someone betrayed by a close friend; someone deeply, deeply hurt.

“Who… Who’s the real fox here?! I can’t… I can’t—!”

Breaking out into crazed laughter, the four Alices held onto the little Dream and threw themselves over the railing, tumbling back down, down, down into the eternal nightmare below.

“                                         “

The little Dream screamed as it plunged into the darkness, the endless, ‘perfect’ world of Everland crackling and shattering into a trillion pieces as it transformed into an eternal nightmare, echoed by the broken laughter of the four innocent children deceived by the selfish Dream, lost in Everland.

And thus, the little Dream would never find out the conclusion of the Four Alices’ dream.

The little Dream was never lonely ever again.

* * *

The images repeatedly flashed in front of his eyes, again and again and again. Who knew  _that person_  had it in them to be  _this_  cruel, heh?

He stared, transfixed—no, soulbound, eyes glued to the flickering screen of the old television set in front of him, unable to lift a finger, to move a muscle, to do anything to stop his own endless suffering.

The scene came to a gradual stop, focusing itself on the absolute fear—or betrayal?—glimmering in the tearful eyes of the lead role, along with the spotlight’s gleam reflecting off the surface of the golden key, sharpened to a point…

The ringing continued to echo in his ears, even after another reset, rewinding the movie back to the start of the opening act.

The dull grey flower bloomed all alone in the empty field, golden eyes watching its every move in the icy breeze.

Scarlet-stained letter in hand, the selfish little dreamer reached out to the conclusion and…

* * *

…The door to the familiar unknown was opened at last.

With a loud creak that resonated through the frail walls of the building, four students walked into the main room of the theater, feeling four pairs of suspicious eyes instantly focus on them, meddling intruders.

Lead by a familiar boy with unfamiliar golden eyes.

“E—E-ki—you’re—!“

The green-haired girl clapped a hand to her mouth, eyes wide open in disbelief and… Hope? The red-haired girl sitting beside her too bore an expression of incredulity, unable to process the sight in front of her eyes.

The tallest boy, standing the closest to the intruders of the theater, opening and closing his mouth as if trying to force out unwilling words, reached out a hand to the smiling boy in front of him.

Laughter. Dry, humourless laughter echoed through the abandoned theater.

“You’re not E-ki, are you.”

A statement, not a question.

The hand reaching out to him stilled, and the three third-years turned around to face the smallest one, still wearing clothes one-two sizes too big for his frame, confused murmurs floating from their lips into the stale air.

“Then you must be B-ka! My brother told me a lot about you~. And A-no, D-suke, and even C-na too! Goodness, you’re all here~. Thanks for making my job a lot more easier~!”

E-noru grinned, letting his eyes squeeze almost-shut to amplify the intimidating aura about him. The four students behind him retreated back, bystanders of a war they were not made aware of.

“What do you want.”

“Now, now, there’s no need to be upset.” E-noru spoke jauntily, reaching into the sling bag by his side and pulling out a yellowed stack of papers, barely held together at the seams. “As I recall, my dearest brother used to be in a club with all four of you, right?”

Hesitantly, the four third-year students nodded, sceptical looks still cast upon the boy smiling like a fox.

“Then, it’s true…” A-ya muttered, his voice picked up by the silence and carried along with the breeze. “The Occult Film Club’s leader, he really did…”

“Do you remember the name of the play you were supposed to film?” E-noru continued, paying no attention to A-ya’s quiet words. “Ah, what was it again? Something about a  _dream_ , a perfect world…”

“’Alice in Everland.’” A-no’s thoughts whirled round and round, even as she said those words. E-ki had a brother? Then, why didn't he ever tell them about E-noru? Was he on bad terms with the ponytailed boy? “What about it?”

The lopsided smile turned into a menacing smirk, and all eight besides E-noru felt a shiver travel up their spine as he twirled around dramatically in a full circle, raising his gaze to the glass ceiling of the theater.

“You never managed to finish filming it, right? And then you lost the videotapes in the ensuing chaos of the fire, right? So, I figured, why not I help bring this to an end?”

“You mean…”

“Yes, I want to remake the movie, with all of us as the cast. Easy enough, hm? The props and the equipment, you still have them, yes?”

“Yes,” B-ka ground out through clenched teeth, E-noru’s unwavering smirk starting to grate on his tired nerves, “but why should we? What’s the point? E-ki’s dead, and there’s nothing we can do—“

“Except, he isn’t!” E-noru barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “And this is a request from him to you, as an apology to me. So you’d better follow along, or else I won’t forgive him~.”

“Eeeh, hold on.” D-ne interjected, scratching at the back of her head. “Why would he apologize to you,” she cocked her head to the side in a questioning gesture, pointing at E-noru, “when they” she swivelled 'round, turning her hand to point at A-no, B-ka, C-na and D-suke, “should be the ones apologizing to him? After all,” a noncommittal shrug, “wasn’t it  _their_  fault he got killed—I mean, got hospitalised?”

“Simple.” The golden-eyed boy smiled once more, a sweet, innocent, practiced smile. Throwing down the pile of papers onto the hardwood floor of the stage, whereby it immediately scattered into a mess of individual sheets, all ripped at the edges, E-noru let his gaze trail off to the theater's back wall, as if staring though it and into the beyond.

“’Alice in Everland’ wasn’t his idea… it’s  _mine._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That being said, I stared at the one sitting one seat in front of me, the only other person in the play's empty audience.
> 
> No reaction.
> 
> " _That person_ would know everything, of course."
> 
> ...No way, it couldn’t be.
> 
> Could it be, perhaps…
> 
> "...The lead role from a year ago?"
> 
> I looked at that person in the eyes.
> 
> Replying in a cowardly way, exaggerated gestures, laughter.
> 
> "—On the contrary, that person was the one who created the 'Everlasting∞demisE'."


	4. Act 1.3: Speech From The Stage

Extravagant outfits, elaborate props, everything once again was brought out and set up upon the theater’s stage, covered by the single spotlight’s bright shine. Two students busily hurried back and forth between the backstage and the green rooms, checking up on this and that and making sure everything lay perfectly in place.

It was an honour, they said, to witness the comeback of the legendary Occult Film Club, even though a lot of things had changed, even in a single year.

Most of the club’s members dropped out, fearing for their own lives after E-ki never returned to school since that day. Even the most avid of fans reduced their idolized worship to nothing more than pained nostalgia, memories lined with blood and regret.

Only two common, ordinary students remained loyal to the group, secretly holding meetings at the abandoned theater to patch things up as well as they could, taking care of the forgotten props and costumes nobody bothered to claim after the incident.

“Thanks, 1-kun, 0-chan. We’re really grateful for your help.”

“No problem." "Just… be careful, okay?”

* * *

After E-noru explained everything, or rather, as much information as he cared to reveal to them, the four members of the old Occult Film Club readily accepted his request, though not without a few hesitations, especially on B-ka’s part.

“The script, it’s… very different, from what I can remember.”

“Weren’t there only five characters in the play?”

“Why did you change the setting? The scenes, too…”

“Hey, what is this. I don’t understand. It’s nothing like the original.”

And always, they were answered with a slight shrug, a tiny smile, a little laugh. They knew that E-noru wasn’t telling them everything, but… if it were really E-ki’s way of apologizing to his brother for his transgression, then, they would gladly…

* * *

By the time A-ya was done with his makeup, changing, and doing some quiet reciting to himself, it was already past 9 when he returned to the green room. Only an hour until the camera started rolling. The others were already gathered in the room, doing final script checks and rehearsing difficult scenes.

Still… where was the lead role?

“Hey, where’s E-noru? Don’t tell me he chickened out and ditched us?”

“Don’t think so. He seemed really adamant on making us film this play… To leave us after two whole months of effort? Ridiculous… Then again, boys are stupid like that, sometimes.”

Eavesdropping on the quiet conversation the two first-year girls were having in the corner of the room, A-ya sighed. E-noru… A-ya saw him slip out of school a few hours before, no doubt to grab a few last essentials before commencing with the filming of the play.

It was, after all, a very complex and frankly strange story they were about to act out onstage.

D-suke didn’t look surprised at all as D-ne spoke ill of he who still wasn’t here. And then B-ka said some things A-ya couldn’t catch, muttered too quietly for him to pick up the words – A-ya couldn’t tell if he was worried over E-noru or not, or if he agreed with D-ne’s statement.

“Um… What about A-no and C-na?” C-ta interjected, fiddling with the buttons on the sleeves of his butler outfit.

“Them? They’ve been here for quite some time already.” B-ka replied, turning to look at the clock on the wall. “I think they’re still out there on the stage; they were helping the stagehands with the props and costumes since this afternoon. Come to think of it… Shouldn’t they be finished with all that by now?”

“It’s just like C-na to be like that, though…” D-suke sighed, leaning back against his seat. “Of course she’d be busying herself over all the little things, she’s a meticulous person. And A-no’s role doesn’t really seem to fit her personality, does it? Maybe she’s working on that, trying to fit in character.”

“I guess you’re right.” B-ko frowned, tossing her head back a little, the ribbons in her hair fluttering all about. “The girl whose actions speak louder than words, having to play a maid whose tongue cuts like a knife instead? Not fitting at all!”

“I don’t think she’d like it if she heard you saying that, B-ko-chan~.” D-ne giggled, carding a hand through her own hair.

“Hn…” A-ya hummed, tilting his head back and stroking his chin, deep in thought. “Still, the unusual setting, it’s very different from the script you guys had, right?” B-ka nodded, the boredom in his eyes lightening a little as A-ya took to the middle of the circle of students and flipped through the pages of the hand-written script he held in his hands.

“A gloomy movie producer with a love of fine dining inherits an old, eerie theater in the woods from the playwright he used to work with. He lives there with his acquaintance, a monocled woman who enjoys telling and listening to stories, and between them is a young child that could be called their own son, cursed with a sixth sense. Two servants attend to them; one is a rather simple-minded butler, who likes to point out the obvious… the other one his opposite, a troublesome maid with a sharp tongue and an even sharper personality.”

Taking the reins of the storyteller’s role from A-ya, B-ka continued, “Then we have a pretentious girl and her wicked companion… both of whom are dolls, but different types of dolls; porcelain, and metal clockwork. Strangely, all seven seem to be immortal, having lived since time immemorial; the lonely theater with a single clocktower, surrounded by a mass of graves, is forgotten by all, save for the seven of them. And lastly, a mysterious boy who happens to chance upon the front door…”

“When you say it out like that, it really is a weird story, isn’t it?” A soft voice called out, revealed to be C-na’s as both she and A-no walked into the green room, already decked out in their respective outfits. “D-suke and I living together, and B-ka being our child of sorts, even if he’s adopted… Though our personalities seem to fit the parts, at least.”

“Say that for yourself!” A-no huffed crossly, adjusting the maid’s bonnet on her head. “Mine doesn’t fit me at all!”

Still, looking at the play’s cast, it was as C-na said: nobody was playing a character that differed too much from their actual personality. Even the part A-ya was given, the Narrator. An observer from the sidelines, accompanying the audience into Act 2 of the play in their search for the ‘true end’, never really intruding or even having an impact on the fake world, the character description of  _‘withdrawn, introspective, and an avid truth-seeker’_  seemed a perfect fit for him.

Strange, indeed.

* * *

“Of course!” Everyone’s heads turned as E-noru appeared by the door, enthusiastic grin settled comfortably on his expression as he took a step into the room. “I designed this story with the four of you in mind, from what little I knew of your personalities that my brother told me.” E-noru gestured to the third-years, smile unflinching even as B-ka scoffed at his words.

“A pity he decided to change _so much_ of it according to his whim.” With a dramatic sigh, E-noru placed a hand to his forehead, as if stricken with grief. “What was he thinking, stealing my novel outline like that… but it doesn’t matter now! As soon as we’re done with this movie, all will be forgiven. You guys can go back to your _ordinary_ lives.”

As soon as he said that, everyone turned to look away from E-noru. Their expressions could be interpreted as surprised, or caught off-guard. To go back to their ordinary lives… Was it what they really wanted, after all was said and over with?

“…And of course, I’ll take you guys to see my brother, too.”

The third-year students gasped, immediately turning their gazes back to E-noru, whose smile by now had turned into a sly, fox-like smirk.

“It’s been… How long now? A year already? He misses you guys a lot, after all.”

* * *

Strong winds, the sign of an incoming storm, rumbled and groaned past the two windows on the back wall of the stage. The branches of a large tree swayed in the wind, thrown left and right as if nothing more than a little twig. High above, on the theater’s glass ceiling, a large, red full moon hovered, having been painted on just a few days ago.

On the far left side of the stage was an old television set, a small wooden table in front of it, surrounded by expensive-looking armchairs and sofas. A little chandelier hung from the center of the fake theater’s wooden ceiling, but only less than half of its numerous candles were lit. The light from the two candlesticks flanking the television set and a small standing lamp near the largest window just barely lit the room.

The gloomy stage of the fake theater was cloaked in a melancholy, sorrowful air unique to the time of twilight.

Expensive-looking furniture, albeit ancient and worn, filled the room. The lord of the theater seated himself in the most luxurious armchair, raised an eyebrow, and looked up from the book in his hands toward the window behind him.

“Ah, tonight’s full moon…” he trailed off, turning the page of the book with a satisfied hum. “How beautiful. Just like the colour of blood.”

“Oh my, my. It’s gotten so dark already.” The masked lady sitting in the opposite armchair sighed, sipping her tea. “We should prepare for that.”

Standing up, she went to the windowsill behind him, and with a curious glance into the deep woods beyond the graveyard that encircled the theater, she gently closed the window.

“Curse this icy breeze… the foxes were making such a ruckus all day, too.” The lord complained quietly, closing his book as if too distracted to read on any further. “Just like the last time we had a storm.”

One of the two stagehands stooped down behind the papier mache window and switched on a large fan, creating artificial wind that shook the curtains slightly. Seeing them flutter, the lady headed over to the other windowsill and shut it tight as well.

The maid appeared from a door on stage left, holding a teapot. Proceeding to the table in front of her, she refilled the empty teacups one by one.

“It was all clear skies just a moment ago!” She complained loudly, setting the half-empty teapot down on the table and taking a seat next to the lady. “And I just polished the windows yesterday, too. If only the rain would make the glass sparkle instead of just splashing them with dirty water.”

The lord stifled a chuckle at the maid’s irritated tone. “Alright, close all the windows around the theater, and be sure to lock up. Looks like it’s going to be a terrible storm, tonight.”

“Understood, my lord.”

* * *

The moment the cobalt-haired lord mentioned the word ‘storm’, two dolls neatly positioned on one of the sofas move slightly, as if just awakening from a deep slumber.

“EheHEe! A STORM?” The porcelain doll lifted a hand to her lips, giggling. “It’s BEEN so long SINCE we last HAD a terriBLE storm!”

“It HAS…” The clockwork doll grinned, her movements a little more stiff and jumpy than the doll beside her. “YahaHAHA!”

“Ah, so you’ve woken up at last.” The bored-looking child in front of them muttered, eyes fluttering shut as he yawned. Moving towards the clockwork doll, he began to make twisting gestures, as if winding up a key in the doll’s back.

“Good DAY, direcTOR! Ah, thank YOU for doING that for ME!” The clockwork doll wiggled in her seat, trying her best not to move as the child finished winding up the complex mechanism that enabled her to move.

“GOOD day, my LORD, my laDY!” The porcelain doll greeted, nodding her head. “Will there REALly be a TERrible STORM? For SURE?”

“Why, until it comes along, who are we to say?” The lady said softly, leaning back against the plush cushions of the sofa. “Nobody can ever predict what happens next, you know?”

“Oh, but it’s sooo boring today.” The director whined, moving back to his seat with a sigh. “Father, if you’re done with that book, can I have it?”

“Of course.”

The director, the son of the family, relaxed himself in the three-seat sofa opposite the dolls and reached over to the table for the book that the lord placed there. He began to read it, the look of utter boredom never leaving his expression, but after a few pages into the story, he spoke up, a note of curiosity having seeped into his voice.

“Oh, what a strange story! A capricious farce…? So even the playwright can write interesting plays, sometimes.” The director said, ignoring the pained look the lord wore, aimed at him. “Kokkuri Village, why, that’s just through the forest, right? An ordinary village like that… Could it just be a rumour? Let’s see, the intruder killed eight people with a knife… Eh, uh, how do I say this? What a strange name… Terisa? Telezi? Therese? And the scene ends right there, the killer having escaped with the murder weapon, and still on the run! How exciting!”

“Indeed, that is one of the more suspenseful scripts the playwright had wrote.” The lady smiled, as if recalling fondly on an old memory. “I used to act as one of the suspects in that one. Very exhausting, as I recall.”

“But, mother… I wonder why it’s like this?” The director asked, glancing at the lady with a questioning look. “Usually, the playwright’s stories don’t interest me at all. Yet why does the simple fact of knowing that it happened in a place that, by mere chance, I knew of… indeed, a very nearby one, give me such chills…? No… such excitement!”

Truly captivating – B-ka tossed the book to the floor with a faint blush on his cheeks, half-closing his eyes as if confessing his love to someone sitting right beside him. Even down below, the two stagehands and A-ya could be heard letting out a sigh at his cute charm. The camera’s lens continued to follow and capture their every word, their every move.

* * *

“Will a terRIBLE storm COME to the FORest, TOO?” The porcelain doll hopped in place, as excited as a child finding a long-forgotten toy.

“Maybe a storm, yes, but an incident as well, perhaps?” The butler spoke while polishing the television’s screen that continued to show only static, unable to find a signal in the oncoming rain. “The moon tonight is a horrible crimson colour, and with the way it shines so mysteriously, I can’t help but think: something is definitely going to happen. Something not good…”

“You’re always thinking so negatively, idiot!” The maid called out harshly, shooting a glare at the pessimistic butler. “Always making mountains out of molehills! If only your hands worked as half as fast as your mouth goes sometimes, then you’d be slightly more useful than you are now!”

“Eeeh, you don’t have to say it like that…”

“Enough, enough!” The lord waved dismissively, feeling a headache creeping up on him as a result of the maid and butler’s squabbling. “How about the lady tell us a story to pass the time? We have about an hour to go, before we begin  _that_  thing…”

“Alright. Settle down, everyone.” With a nod, the lady raised a finger to her lips, motioning for everyone to be quiet. “Let’s see… Under the eerie shine of the full moon… The foxes of the forest scramble around, in fear of something, and the people fear the signs of a terrible storm.”

A flash of lightning lit the room, revealing the faces of the theater’s inhabitants, enraptured by the beginning of the lady’s spun tale. Nobody spoke a word, drawn into the world where the line between the real and the fake blurred into nothingness.

“The village nearby, abandoned! A mysterious case of serial murders… Just coincidence, or…? No, something dreadful is definitely brewing. Is it the selfish dream of the twilight? Do the strings of fate even reach to this lonely theater, forgotten by all but the seven of us? A wandering ghost playing hide and seek… A shadow twin seeking to replace the original… A love letter received from an unknown caller… Yes, when incidents occur, there is always…”

_Knock, knock, knock._

* * *

“An uninvited guest?” The butler exclaimed, surprised at the sound of the door knocker echoing from the front door on stage right. Past the doors, the camera’s lens could barely pick up the image of someone’s hand on the knocker. The seven on stage instantly turned towards the door with a start.

“Was that the wind…?” The lord wondered out loud, cocking his head to the side.

The butler stepped down from the stage to head towards the entrance. The breeze being made behind the window by the electrical fan continued to blow fiercely, without end.

_Knock, knock, knock._

The rapping on the heavy wooden door echoed, louder and more desperate than before.

“W- who could it be, so late at night…?” The director stood up, moving to stand behind the lord’s chair, frightened.

Slowly, the butler approached and reached out to open the door to the familiar unknown.

Opening with a loud creak, the front double doors always seemed ready to fall off their hinges, since they were so rotten and rusted. Indeed, the stagehands had made them out of rotten wood, just to amplify the abandoned atmosphere of the lonely theater in the middle of the woods.

Stepping out through the doorway from the wing of the stage, entering the theater on this ominous night, was a mysterious visitor.

“Good evening… Forgive me for bothering you at such a late hour…”

Just then, a clap of thunder boomed from the ceiling above the stage, loud enough to peak the sound recording of the camera equipment. For a brief moment, what little of the stage lights went out, leaving the stage to be lit by the intervals of artificial lightning flashing behind the windows.

* * *

Since his character didn’t enter the play until the beginning of Act 2, A-ya stood by the two stagehands, eyes fixed on E-noru alone. Something felt wrong, a strange sensation crawling up his back and breathing down his neck, but he couldn’t bring himself to say a word.

The whispers and mumbles of 1-kun and 0-chan standing somewhere behind him couldn’t reach him, no matter how much he strained to hear them. Only the half-hearted silence and the static of the television rang in his ears.

Alone, he was trapped, ensnared, toeing the line between the world of reality and the fake world of the play in that eternity in a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking around the stage, bathed in the gentle glow of the blood full moon, there was a black book with a bookmark lying on the floor.
> 
> Maybe because they were so distracted by their scripted insanity, the book remained unnoticed by all.
> 
> "...That book..."
> 
>  _That person_ seemed to think of something, eyes closed in thought.
> 
> "...What is it?"
> 
> "Ah, nothing. It's alright, but more importantly... That book, where did it go?"
> 
> While I was staring at that person in front of me, and as that person stared at me back, the book on the floor had mysteriously vanished from our line of sight.
> 
> "...'Reality'."
> 
> "Huh...?"
> 
> "At the exact moment the last scene takes place, there is a small period of time when the world of the fake and the real world become one."
> 
> "...One?"
> 
> "Yes. The eternity in a moment, when the lead roles fall to their demise... Was it written in the script?"
> 
> "...The script... maybe? But I didn't memorise that part, so..."
> 
> "But that's wrong."
> 
> "What... do you mean by that?"
> 
> "It wasn't supposed to be written in the script at all."


	5. Act 1.4: Fake Entrance Ceremony

The television’s static buzzed louder and louder, until it finally reached a crescendo before coming to an abrupt stop, screen turning to pitch black with a loud crack.

“Um… If—if you have room, could I please stay here for the night?” The intruder panted, beads of sweat evident on his forehead, face flushed red from exhaustion. “I—I’ve lost my way…”

“…How unfortunate.” The butler murmured, swiftly turning around to glance at the lord, as if seeking permission, unsure what to do.

The lord closed his eyes and hummed, deep in thought. Eyes fluttering open ever-so-slightly, he nodded, gesturing to the empty three-seater where the director sat before.

“Please, come in. How unfortunate indeed, to be alone so late at night; the forest is an especially dangerous place.”

The stranger walked onto the stage, carefully making his way to the offered seat and making himself comfortable as the door creaked loudly behind him, pushed shut by the butler who returned to stand beside the now-silent television.

“Thank you.”

The lights brightened, bathing the room in a soft, warm glow.

* * *

“What were you thinking?! It’s freezing outside, you might catch a cold!” The maid said in a cross tone, filling an empty teacup and setting it on the little table in front of the strange boy. “Drink this, it’ll warm you right up!”

“Th—thank you.” Reaching for the offered drink, the intruder raised the dainty cup to his lips and slowly drank it down, sighing with bliss as the rich aroma and mild sweetness of the tea drowned out his other senses, leaving him feeling like floating in the middle of a flower meadow.

“How lovely…” he remarked, eyes closed. Lost in the woods, without a clear path to return home to, having finally found a place to stay the night – his relief was evident as the words resounded through the room.

“Our maid’s milk tea is wonderful, isn’t it?” The lady smiled, folding her hands across her lap. “It just calms your mind…”

“By the way,” leaning on one arm, the lord cast a wary glance at the stranger, pursing his lips. “We still don’t know your name, young man. Care to tell us?”

The stranger’s eyes fluttered open in reaction to the master’s question, a puzzled look on his face.

“…That’s the difficult part.” He wrinkled his brow, and looked ready to burst into tears at any moment, as if recalling a painful memory. “Everyone always calls me E, back home. Even my parents call me that name… so, I can’t really remember my _true_ name, but… I think… it’s… _Elise_?”

Hearing this, all seven of the theater’s inhabitants went silent, staring at her suspiciously. As the lull dragged on far longer than any of them cared it to be, the others present quietly focus their attentions on the lord and the boy calling himself a name that felt unknowingly familiar to them all, but for different reasons for each of them.

“…All right. I didn’t mean to make you sad, so – I won’t call you that name if you’d rather I not.” The lord replied, lowering his gaze so that the shadows cast by the low lights hid his eyes. “But, I was just… wondering what we should address you by, you see.”

“…” The stranger kept silent, still lost in his thoughts. The doll twins, moving in their unnatural way, sauntered over to the boy and stood before him.

“Hey, LISten,” the porcelain doll exclaimed, spreading her arms wide. “I have a wonDERFUL idea!”

“OOH! What?” the clockwork doll cried out, clasping her hands behind her back. “WHAT’s your IDEa?”

“D-D-Dolls…?!”

“WELcome to OUR wonDERful theaTER!”

“WelCOME, dear STRANger! Nice TO meet YOU!”

A screech. The stranger’s mouth hung open in terror as he stared wide-eyed at the two dolls.

“EH! Don’t SCREAM so loudLY, please?”

“Well THEN! Nice TO meet you TOO!”

“Y- you… can… talk…?” He stuttered out, barely managing to stop himself from the dropping the teacup in his hands.

“Of course, OF COURSE! Just because we’re DOLLS…”

“DOESn’t mean that WE can’t be aLIVE and KICKing!”

The two dolls laughed mockingly, twirling around in dizzying circles around the stranger, forcing him to turn his head multiple times to keep them in his line of sight.

“Yes, YES! In this CLOCKwork theaTER, even DOLLS can talk IF THEY want! EheHEE~!” The clockwork doll drawled, throwing an arm around the porcelain doll’s waist and pulling her close.

* * *

Shuddering, the stranger’s face clouded with fear at the unnatural sight. Without missing a beat, the lord immediately launched into an explanation, in order to soothe the stranger’s obviously frazzled nerves.

“These doll twins, the playwright I used to work with passed them down to me, along with his clockwork theater. Have you heard of the legend of the lonely boy who built this theater, just before his untimely death?” He asked, the six other theater inhabitants gathering closer to listen to the retelling of their origins.

“It’s said that there was only one work of his that he managed to produce before his passing; a documentary of his precious ‘collection’. An eastern-styled sword coated in poisonous venom, a wine glass stained with an unending flow of wine, four hand-mirrors made from the same looking-glass, a half-burnt clockwork doll, a pair of bloodstained sewing scissors, a silver spoon said to bring immense wealth, and a golden key sharpened to a point, almost like a knife.”

“It’s practically unbelievable,” the lady interjected, her hands moving animatedly as she took over the storytelling role. “But when that theater in the forest was completely forgotten by everyone, the gears of the clocktower finally started to move after years of rust and disrepair. The pieces of the ‘collection’, eternally loyal to the playwright as his companions, began to make their own story with their own hands…”

“That’s right.” The maid continued where the lady trailed off, boldly stepping into spotlight and solemnly reciting what she knew. “I remember… The time I was born, as an eternal play-actor… The playwright, he loved all of us very dearly, and we loved him in turn. So, we became reborn as humans, in the hopes that we might be able to feel closer to him in this form than we were as his ‘collection’ of vessels.”

“Well…” Giving a look to the two doll girls giggling childishly beside him, the butler sighed. “Most of us, at least. And every night, we react one of his many films, to honour his memory. Even with no audience, the playwright’s legend must continue on.”

“And in all our nightly rituals,” the director added, with an air of nostalgia about him. “We always give the lead role to the playwright, so that he may live on, even if only in our screenplays. Yes, the lead role whose name is…”

“…ELISE.” The two dolls announced at the same time, expressions tinged with a pained, wistful recollection.

* * *

“…What a wonderful tale.” The stranger spoke at last, a warm smile playing on his lips. “The playwright must be very grateful to have had such wonderful companions in his life. Forgive me if… My existence, or my name… Brings you such pain… Must be difficult, having to let go of a trusted friend… Sorry.”

An uncomfortable silence settled upon the eight gathered on the stage. The theater’s inhabitants, the daydreaming stranger… were they thinking of one and the same?

“…Enough of THAT.” The clockwork doll said at last, breaking the lull in conversation. “What WAS your ideA, again?”

“WELL, if this BOY can’t tell US his REAL NAME, then WE don’t have to TELL him ours, eiTHER!” the porcelain doll responded, giving a mischievous wink.

“Ah, that’s right!” the butler blurted out, tapping his chin. “I guess you can be friendly without knowing someone’s name, hm?”

The director stared at the stranger appraisingly, like a prospector trying to decide the worth of a newly-discovered artifact before pawning it off to the highest bidder.

“You mean, like a masquerade? That would be interesting, so to say.” Giving her opinion, the maid put her hand on her hip, curling her fingers around the teapot’s handle.

“A masquerade? Why, that sounds like fun…” the director chuckled and gave the stranger a glance as the maid hurriedly went around and refilled everyone’s teacups.

“It won’t really be a true masquerade,” the lord said, his gloomy eyes having brightened up a little. “But in the sense of us and him, without questions or answers, just celebrating all night long… It does sound like a magnificent time to be had!”

“And maybe, _something_ might happen…”

“Nobody knows anything about him, and he knows nothing of _us_.”

“That does seem rather _interesting_ , to be honest.”

“ _YAY_! We can PARty, party!”

“Yaaay! Yaha _HAHA_!”

“Very interesting, indeed. And I assume that _that person_ will…?”

“Yes, I’m in favour of _that_.”

* * *

The lord seemed fond of the maid’s suggestion, and everyone else expressed their approval. Even the director, normally so lethargic as to avoid joining in on the fun, seemed eager to participate in the party.

“Huh?” The stranger mumbled, taken aback at the sudden shift in mood. “Are you really throwing a party just for me…?”

“Don’t worry.” The director replied, taking the stranger’s hand in his own, a faint redness rising to his cheeks. “It isn’t just for you, but for us as well. After all… we’re still _missing the lead role_.”

“Lead role…?”

“We’ve been waiting for such a coincidence as this – a suitable person to take on the playwright’s part… An incident to dispel our endless boredom.”

“We’ll gladly welcome anyone who can help us escape the everyday, monotonous routine of our lives, whether it’s a wandering ghost playing hide and seek, a shadow twin seeking to replace the original, a love letter received from an unknown caller… Or even an uninvited guest who just so happens to share his name with our beloved and trusted friend.”

“Beloved and trusted…” The stranger lowered his head, avoiding the expectant stare that the lord was gazing at him with.

“Say, why were you walking through the forest in the dead of night?” The lady inquired, with a look of concerned curiosity. “Even for a local, being alone out there is rather… dangerous, is it not?”

The stranger reached for his left coat pocket – covering a white envelope half sticking out with his hand. Slowly turning his head to look closely at each and every one of the seven theater inhabitants, he let out a quiet sigh, letting his eyes fall shut.

“I can’t help but daydream a lot, and I guess… I just got lost on the way home? But I’ve never been this far int—”

The director, seemingly dissatisfied with his answer, cut off the conversation with an annoyed scoff. “By the way, where did you come from? You can remember at least that much, can’t you?”

“Uh… from Kokkuri Village, just south through the forest. At least, I think it is that way…”

Staring suspiciously once more at the flustered stranger, the theater’s inhabitants shared a single glance and a nod, unanimously agreeing to something the stranger was not privy to.

“I see… In that case, since you’re such a daydreaming airhead,” the maid called out with a frown. “We’ll just call you the Dreamer, alright?”

“…Okay! I don’t mind.” Having expected the stranger to oppose her suggestion, the maid recoiled in surprise when he easily agreed to being named as such, what is basically an insult.

“If so, you may refer to us as whatever you see fit.” The butler continued, hiding a smile at the maid’s flabbergasted expression. “I believe it should be somewhat easy to tell, what our roles are in this theater.”

“Say…” The director wondered out loud, looking pointedly at the Dreamer’s face. “Since you said you came from Kokkuri Village… Are you…”

* * *

“Eh…?” The Dreamer stared back at the director, tilting his head with a questioning expression.

“…Never mind.” Rising to his feet, the director quickly stepped off the stage and into one of the theater’s many rooms, leaving the Dreamer behind with the other six.

“DON’T mind HIM. He’s ALways like THAT.” The two dolls giggled, both tugging on the Dreamer’s coat sleeves. “Come now, WE have a PARty to atTEND to!”

“You know, this is a really… strange theater, isn’t it?” The Dreamer commented as he followed the two dolls down a corridor, letting them lead the way. “When I saw it from the outside, I didn’t see any lights on, so I thought… this place must be abandoned. The front door was leaning over to one side, too… But somehow, the inside is simply marvellous!”

“You’re one to talk, aren’t you?” The maid sniffed haughtily, leisurely taking her time to get to the kitchen.

“Indeed, indeed.” The butler agreed, a loose grin on his lips as he headed to the dining room, preparing for the awaited feast. “It’s very strange to have a party with someone we know practically nothing about.”

“We only gather on the stage when it’s nearly midnight, so there isn’t any need to have too many lights switched on.” The lord patiently explained as he watched the Dreamer glance excitedly at the unfamiliar surroundings, much like a puppy. “Before that, we usually eat dinner at the dining room; it’s much brighter there. Now, let me prepare the food.”

Exchanging a few words with the lady, the lord waved over the maid, both disappearing behind the kitchen’s wooden door.

“What a STRANGE night, HM?” The porcelain doll grinned, grabbing the clockwork doll’s hand and twirling themselves in front of the Dreamer.

“Huh…?”

“We were just talking about it before you arrived.” Adjusting her glasses, the lady crossed her arms over her chest, giving off a sombre expression. “The full blood moon, the signs of a storm, the grave incident at a nearby village. We thought something strange might happen here at the theater, too.”

The lady held her hands to her lips, her eyes in a trance.

“I…”

“Oh, mother, you’re always like this, trying to turn everything into a fairytale!” The director pouted, loudly complaining as the lady reached over to pat his head. “Don’t worry our guest with such silly things; what will you do if something _really does_ happen…?”

The director gently rebuked his own adoptive mother. But even in his quiet voice tinged with boredom, there was an undeniable hint of anticipation.

“Now, NOW!” The clockwork doll chastised the two, shaking her head. “Don’t MAKE such a RUCKus. We HAVE to close ALL the winDOWS, rememBER? See, it’s ALREAdy started TO rain!”

Everyone present turned to face the windows; it had indeed begun to drizzle outside. The pitter-patter of the raindrops echoed, and the leaves of the trees were wet with the clouds’ tears.

“Oh, please, let me help as well!” The Dreamer pleaded, eager to repay the theater inhabitants’ kindness for letting him stay the night. “If you need all the windows shut, then the more people, the better, right?”

“Go help the dolls, then.” The lady relented, pointing at the west staircase. “Start with the windows near the guest bedrooms of the first floor. After you’re done, meet us at the dining room. We’ll have a _magnificent_ party, _just like a dream_.”

The lights faded once more.

* * *

The two stagehands, aided by the nine actors, quickly changed the set, pushing and pulling the new props into place: dining room, hallway, stairs, the main stage off to one side, the clocktower’s entrance.

“So, shall we _begin_?”

A calm yet bustling air filled the dining room. Crowding around the large, rectangular table with their plates of food, everyone sipped their teacups, brimming with freshly brewed tea. Some started cheerful conversations, "now, they—", some began to dig into the hearty feast laid out before them, "and you!", some stood from their seats and danced, "and me~?", creating a dissonant capriccio.

The Dreamer couldn’t hide his bewilderment, observing these people enjoy themselves so, a complete turnaround from how they had behaved on the main stage before, awaiting the chime of midnight to begin their nightly play. He stared at them blankly, nervously twiddling his thumbs in the middle of the strange crowd.

“Let the _crazy_ night go on! The curtains rise!”

The director soon took notice of this and cheekily tugged at the Dreamer’s chair, forcing a startled yelp out of him. Maintaining the unreadable look of absolute boredom on his face, the director put his all into performing a short dance for his one-man audience. At the end, he bent into a cute little bow, brushing the stray strands of hair in his face back with a hand.

“Let this _excitement_ swell ever higher!”

The Dreamer applauded, childish wonder and excitement twinkling in his bright golden eyes. Glad to see this, the director took the Dreamer’s hand and brought him into the center of attention, urging him to enjoy the party with the others.

“Just perform according to the _script_!”

The lord was boasting about his unparalleled love of food – already eating straight from the banquet’s spread, not bothering with his own plate or utensils – and started an eating competition with the lady, who only grabbed sweet treats and desserts to devour herself. The maid sat languidly in her chair a short distance away, and shot them an irritated scowl.

“Don't think about it, just be a _fool_!”

As the butler cleaned up the swiftly-emptied plates, he was stealing bits and pieces of food here and there, popping them into his mouth when he thought nobody was looking, enjoying the party to the fullest. The porcelain doll going around inviting people to dance soon became entangled with the others, and her upset face at not having anyone accept her offer with earned her a laugh from the director.

“The world’s spinning, getting _rewritten_  on one, two, three~!”

Soon, the clockwork doll began to sing a tune to which the porcelain doll danced. Everyone seemed to know the song, as the lord and lady joined in right after tying up their competition. The melody’s three-beat tempo gradually increased in speed, and the three singers started dancing to its rhythm as well, acting as accompaniment to the porcelain doll who happily took center stage. The butler, who had only been tapping his feet until then, stood up and took the hands of the maid, both of them joining in the merriment.

“And we shall create a _new_ beginning!”

The director gestured to the others, leading them into the hall, and everyone followed along still vigorously enjoying their song and dance. They headed for the piano to the side of the main stage, where the director began providing a whimsical backbeat seemingly impossible for his small body to accomplish, his fingers gracefully flying across the black and white keys.

“It's no _fun_ if things are simple, yes?”

The two dolls, moving to flank the piano-playing boy, gave a little synchronised bow and abruptly changed their tune, the steady three-beat lullaby-like melody turning into a frantic shuffle-swing.

“So let it _end_  even crazier than before!”

All the while, the song and dance never stopped, only increasing in intensity and tempo. Even the butler and maid at last abandoned their tasks to fully join in on the fun. Everyone glanced expectantly at the Dreamer, who watched the wonderful spontaneous performance without a word.

For an eternity of a moment, the seven stopped their actions, all eyes on the lead role-to-be. And then…

“ _…I’ll enjoy this crazy night!_ ”

The Dreamer, who had all this time remained speechless in breathless amazement, gave a bright smile, like one invited to delve into the realm of their favourite fairytale, and proceeded towards the spotlight’s focus.

The bouncy melody played on the piano and sang out loud re-established its haphazard composition, and the inhabitants of the theater began their dance anew, celebrating the boy approaching the center of the stage.

Dancing out into the middle of the impromptu circle, the lead role played his part in the peak of the wondrous, indulgent party. The three-person audience was entranced by the lines coming one after another between pauses and stops in the song; they were given no time to even breathe, an endless barrage of perfectly-delivered words and acting blurring the boundary between the real world and the fake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "...! In other words... that final scene in the last page... the lead role's demise... doesn't exist?"
> 
> "That, too, is wrong."
> 
> "Eh?"
> 
> "...Between the script which _that person_ gave you and the original handwritten screenplay, which do you think is the truth?"
> 
> "...What's with that question?"
> 
> "Are there not nine actors in this play? One for each of the four from before, four from the after, and one for that person?"
> 
> "...Indeed."
> 
> "But, that unfinished script, in fact, has been rewritten... many times, it has been rewritten, and by many people's hands, the ending has changed."
> 
> "…I… don't understand."
> 
> "The truth is... there was a tenth person involved in the period of time between a year ago and a year after."
> 
> "…! Wait, that means—?!"
> 
> "No, the tenth is not who you think it is, but, the Fox..."


	6. Intermission: Claimed Responsibility

“I’ve never enjoyed such a marvellous, joyous, dream-like celebration like this before…”

The emotions of the Dreamer and of the boy named E-noru were in perfect sync, welling up from deep inside their hearts. Like a puppet pulled about by the strings of fate, he moved with incredible speed, raw and unadulterated happiness pouring out from the confines of his soul.

A swift set change, and the eight engrossed in their near-midnight masquerade appeared in the clocktower’s hidden room, having made their way up the spiral staircase following the director’s lead, the red glow of the full moon illuminating the secret garden shut away in the clocktower’s confines. The resounding tick, tock of the clocktower’s gears echoed heavily in the garden-room, warping into a noise more suited to the thumping of a heartbeat.

The uninvited guest had, just like that, had his heart melted by the theater’s inhabitants, forgotten the hands of time, and was completely devoured by the rambunctious party. At the climax of the song, everyone held their final pose and came to a sudden halt.

* * *

“Oh, what a dream-like night! If only this moment could last for an eternity…”

It was the turning point of the play – the lead role’s all-important line that introduced the overall theme of the play. But E-noru, thoroughly absorbed into “his role as the Dreamer” until completely dismissing the reality of it all only being a mere play, was driven by the heat of the moment to blurt out his line just a second too late.

Because of that, he came to a stop just a step after where he should have been standing, and the palm of his left hand smacked forcefully into a hard object.

With a loud burst of static suddenly buzzing through the room, immediately followed by an unnerving quietness, the black box that served as the clocktower’s source of power went from busily churning out sounds of clockwork to going deathly silent.

It felt as if the scene was, in that moment, cut away from the world of reality and cast into a familiar unknown. A mind-numbing silence. The Dreamer, his eyes and mouth open wide, his face an unnatural mixture of ecstasy and insanity, couldn’t lift a finger to regret his mistake.

Because this situation, this incident, this tragedy was not in the script.

It was by pure accident.

The situation of the clocktower’s heart coming to an abrupt halt was non-existent in the act’s finale, right? So…

(…What have you done?)

E-noru’s mind went blank. He’d broken the black box prop, silenced its heartbeat. How in the world could they reach the conclusion of the screenplay now…?

His brain desperately tried to search for an answer, but his body rejected any attempt at movement, frozen to the spot. Most likely, E-noru was busy doing everything in his power to keep himself from having a breakdown. In the forceful silence, a moment of real time felt like it could have been a second, a minute, an hour…

Or even an eternity.

* * *

“Ah… You broke the clocktower’s heart…” With quick thinking, B-ka immediately came up with an adlib that the timid director might say.

“OH no, oh NO! Time has COME to a STOP!” D-ne continued, feeling the sweat of apprehension drip down the back of her neck.

“You said IT! If ONLY this moMENT could last FOR an eTERniTY!” B-ko added on, letting a shocked expression fall naturally on her face.

“The BLACK BOX must have heard your WISH!” Both first-year girls finished with a flourish, gripping each other’s shoulders tightly, as if terrified. “So TIME has STOPPED for an EterNIty? YahaHAHA…!”

Quickly letting the three audience members know the situation in the play, the two living dolls, who were in a way the creepiest characters of the eight, brilliantly tied together the broken black box with the Dreamer’s line of “this moment lasting for an eternity.”

The play immediately changed course from wrapping up the wonderfully lively party, instead returning to the eerie night from the start of the act. Seeing this bizarre, instantaneous shift in atmosphere, 1-kun and 0-chan felt themselves filling with anticipation, dying to know what would happen in the second act.

“Oh my, my~!”

“I can’t believe it…”

“What just happened?”

“…The full moon must have been waiting for this exact moment.”

The others followed the three’s lead and came up with their own adlibs, ending with the lord masterfully tying it into the end of the first act with a comment on the blood-red moonlight.

E-noru mentally sighed in relief as he watched their performances in silence.

After the lord’s final follow-up line, the two stagehands began to lower the curtain. Taking it as his cue to finish up Act 1 as the lead role, E-noru let the letter hidden in his coat pocket flutter out onto the center of the stage, unnoticed by the theater’s inhabitants who continued down the spiral staircase and off the stage.

All that was left on the stage was the broken black box and the letter dropped by the Dreamer. With the scripted cliffhanger for the second act going by, having escaped everyone but the perpetrator and the single audience member’s attention, the curtain swiftly dropped.

* * *

Moments after the thick, velvety fabric put the mysterious world of the play to sleep, unbroken applause rang out for the wonderful fake world behind the curtain and the people who dwelled there, the sound of a single person clapping their hands echoing through the school’s theater building.

Grinning like one possessed, A-ya’s hands gradually ceased their applause as he stood from his seat and began to make his way to the backstage.

(…What have you done? You… you ruined the whole screenplay…)

* * *

As the single applause finally came to a stop, E-noru made his way to the backstage, hands shaking with nervous fear. The other actors approached him with scary looks on their faces; he hung his head, unable to meet their gaze, looking for all the world like he was about to cry.

That mistake had no doubt ruined the script, ruined the special movie meant for _that person’s eyes_ alone. Breaking a prop, forcing everyone else to adlib… Even now, E-noru couldn’t keep his promise to become the star of a screenplay…

Were he the one in charge of directing and leading the actors, E-noru would not have forgiven a drastically critical blunder such as what he had done – in fact, not even the smallest of mistakes, be it a single unscripted blink, accidental sigh, or one too many footsteps could be allowed.

The perfect story was to have the perfect characters, and that combination would create an overwhelmingly realistic world for the movie; calculated and calibrated to the finest degree, even the slightest error would cause it to crumble into grey.

What the Dreamer had done – it went against all of his ideals. A bead of cold sweat trickled down E-noru’s forehead.

“I’m sorry!!! I—I… I made an unforgivable mistake…!”

“Are you alright?!” Retaining his stoic expression, D-suke firmly grabbed E-noru’s shoulders, looking over him in concern.

“…U—uh…?” E-noru stammered, blinking his eyes rapidly to keep the tears from falling.

“You hit your hand on the black box, right? Let me see… That must have hurt a lot.”

“To hit it hard enough for the mp3 player to stop, too. You nearly gave me a heart attack…”

A-no and C-na carefully examined E-noru’s held out hand, commenting in relief as they saw nothing to worry about, save for a slight bruise forming at the wrist. It was a little sore, but that’s all, and there was no indication that it was a serious injury.

“Thank goodness… I was worried.”

B-ka sighed, losing the sharp gaze he was wearing before. E-noru was certain they’d all be angry at him; shocked by their response, his vision wavered as a lump formed in his throat. Nobody seemed to care one bit that he’d damaged the prop. Their unreadable expressions as they approached him gave E-noru a completely different idea, but they were just worried about him being hurt…

E-noru’s heart, having taken a huge blow from the failure and what he should do to make up for it, was slowly warmed by the seven’s forgiving friendliness.

Such wonderful companions, fully trusting in each other, huh…

“…Er… More importantly, the black box’s mp3 player might’ve…”

“1-kun and 0-chan went running towards the stairs a second ago; I bet it’ll be repaired by tomorrow.” D-ne fixed him with a look that seemed to say “it’s gonna be okay, you just worry too much”. Sure enough, the two stagehands were already checking on the prop all over. Seeing that brought back E-noru’s urge to hide himself in a hole somewhere immediately.

“But I… I messed up the script. I… The movie’s not perfect anymore…” He muttered, his expression darkening as he lowered his gaze.

“Not… Perfect? Why are you so adamant on—“

“Because I promised, that I’d be the star actor of one of his movies someday!” Cutting off C-ta’s words with a shout, E-noru threw his arms outward, causing the others to take a step back in surprise. “And the star actor couldn’t have made a blunder like that! Not even one mistake should’ve been made… Isn’t that what he always says, whenever he works on one of his projects? You guys would know, right?! That’s why you’re always taking this ‘Occult Film Club’ thing so seriously! And now, I… I—!”

The third-years’ faces clouded, and they stared off into empty space. Nobody made eye contact with anyone else; an awkward silence reigned over the heavy atmosphere. Even A-ya hadn’t come to speak to them, busily helping the stagehands clean up and pretending that he hadn’t heard a thing.

* * *

“E-noru… Sure, the filming didn’t go exactly as planned.” B-ko started, lacing her fingers together as she gave a gentle, pitying smile. “But I don’t think that the scene was ruined, no. To be honest… That moment gave me goosebumps.”

“…Uhm?” Face twisted in confusion, E-noru made a noise somewhere between a tired sigh and a confused hum.

“Yeah, me too.” A-no added, her usual harsh glare replaced with a lopsided grin. “All the time I’ve been in the Occult Film Club, nothing gave me such a thrill like this night. An unintended mistake, miraculously turned into an unforgettable scene… I saw your face, you know!”

The redhead gave E-noru a playful slap on his shoulder, laughing at how he winced at the strength behind her hit. “I felt like yelling at you, but my voice just wouldn’t come out back then! And when you said “if only this moment could last for an eternity…”, you really did manage to stop time, in a way. True, it wasn’t in the script, but…”

“I hate to admit it, but you really did turn the dial up to eleven.” D-ne continued, the distaste usually staining her words turned into begrudging respect. “Even if you are just a stupid boy most of the time, you made a miracle out if it tonight! But I won’t lose to you next time, you hear me?”

Hearing the praise from A-no and D-ne, E-noru felt the red heat on his face become even hotter, embarrassed pride radiating from his sheepish smile. The dread of his mistake completely took over his mind and body, so the pain he should have felt banging his hand against the prop was quickly forgotten.

“Yeah, that surely was an experience!” Grinning, B-ko tossed her head back and pretended to swoon, raising the back of her hand to her forehead. “Being so close to the black box, I heard it really loudly when E-noru hit it with his hand. It sounded really painful!”

“Oh, B-ko…” Making disapproving clicking noises with his tongue, C-ta shook his head. “Always the drama queen, aren’t you. But really, even though A-ya’s part doesn’t come into play until Act 2, you all were pretty dazzling out there, especially C-na and D-suke. You practically lost yourselves into the roles of the characters you were playing.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“…Thanks.”

C-na and D-suke nodded in acknowledgement of the praise, quietly thanking the green-eyed brunet. The others showered praise on B-ka as well; if it weren’t for the role of the Director who brought everything together after the accident, the play really would have stopped in its tracks, the illusion of the fake world shattered into a trillion pieces. Who knows what might have happened next.

“…B-ka? Sorry about the things, when we first met. I was just… really angry at the time.” Glancing at the smaller boy’s face, E-noru mumbled his apology. “I don’t know how to thank you for agreeing to do this with me… All of you, I mean. I just wanted to make him proud of me, and maybe, I thought, if I—“

“Enough, E-noru.” B-ka sighed, letting an exasperated, resigned smile show through. “We’re all in this together, alright? If it’s what E-ki wants, then we’re gonna make the best film anyone’s ever seen. Just… Put a little more trust in us, okay?”

“Trust…”

Sadness welled up in E-noru’s heart, hearing B-ka ask him to have a little more faith in his brother’s closest friends, but he quickly wiped the sorrow from showing on his face and put on a forced, practiced smile.

“Yeah, alright… I—I will. And I’ll do my best in Act 2 as well. Even though I messed up at the end… Acting is pretty fun, huh? No wonder E-ki loved working on his movie projects so much, with you guys. It really feels like we’re in a dream.”

Trailing off, E-noru couldn’t hold back his emotions, letting them all flow out through the tears falling down his cheeks. Everyone else shifted uneasily, unsure how to comfort the crying boy. Then, after having let out all that he’d been holding back, E-noru squared his shoulders and wiped the tear stains with the heel of his palms.

“Y—yes, _just like a dream_ …”

* * *

With Act 1 finished, everyone involved began doing their best to prepare for Act 2. A-ya spent his free time helping 1-kun and 0-chan out with the prop work, after school. Searching and snooping around for the required material, the red-eyed boy mentally screamed in triumph after finding what he was looking for, an empty book with a black cover and an ornately-designed bookmark.

Sitting at a desk by the windowsill in the empty classroom, he painstakingly wrote, drew, and coloured in the pages with swathes of bloody red and morbid words describing all sorts of urban legends, old and new, while the red eyes of the cat on the bookmark seemed to glow menacingly in the heat of the summer end’s sun. The ‘Book and Bookmark of Demise’, as E-noru had called it.

Glancing out the window, A-ya let out a fatigued groan as he realised something; he had lost track of time. The red orb in the sky had already started to cross the meridian of the sky. There was no time for him to return home and take a break, he’d have to go straight to the school’s theater to get into gear.

Typing a short text explaining his absence with his cellphone, A-ya sent the message, waiting until the notification sound confirmed that his mother had received and read it. Grabbing the book and shoving it into his bag, the cat bookmark wedged firmly in between the last page and the back cover, A-ya headed out the door and made his way to the theater building, where the others had already gathered.

Pushing open the heavy front door with one hand, A-ya went to the green room on the left side of the stage. There, the rest of the first-year students, as well as one of the stagehands, were all more or less finishing up with their preparations for that night.

E-noru could be heard loudly practicing his lines on the main stage, while over in one corner of the room, A-ya saw B-ko, C-ta and D-ne talking with the lone stagehand 0-chan about something.

* * *

“…Oh yes, indeed! Very much so, though he’s usually not that clumsy…”

“Ah… But the energetic personality is pretty much the same, right? At least, that’s what I think.”

“Pretty much? They’re practically _the same person_ , for all I know.”

“Is that so… Well, I’ve never seen him in person, so I can’t judge.”

“Oops, I forgot about that fact. To be honest, if E-ki were here right now, they could probably switch places and I wouldn’t even notice… Oh, A-ya-kun!”

0-chan smiled as she waved the raven-haired boy over, taking no notice that he’d basically eavesdropped on their conversation. Or maybe she didn’t notice. A-ya tried to hide the grin creeping up on his face as he approached them.

“Ready for the show, everyone? Sorry to keep you waiting.” He drawled, twisting his face to wear the usual expression of uneasy boredom.

“A-yaaa!” C-ta smiled, launching himself at A-ya and throwing his arms around him. “Where have you been?”

“Took you long enough!” B-ko complained, moving towards the red-eyed boy but pulled back by D-ne, who showed her a pout. Relenting, the ribbon-wearing girl continue to admonish A-ya from where she was standing while the long-haired girl interlaced her fingers with B-ko’s.

“Well, I anticipated as much.” Laughing, 0-chan patted A-ya on the shoulder good-naturedly, ignoring the murderous look that C-ta sent her way. ”Forgot about the time, hm?”

“Whoops?” A-ya chuckled, gently easing C-ta off of himself and gesturing to the sling bag at his side.

“Figures,” the third-year student shrugged her shoulders, letting an exasperated sigh escape her lips. “E-ki’s like that too. Always busy with the backstage stuff, then panicking when we ran out of time to actually film the damned thing.”

“…Was it really that bad?”

“Yes, very! But that’s what makes E-ki, well, _E-ki_!” 0-chan giggled, something she hadn’t done in a very long time. “And he’s very passionate about the things he loved, too. Ah, I miss him…”

“L—love?” B-ko blurted out, hiding her face behind her hands when everyone looked her way.

“Yup! Maybe he thinks we haven’t noticed it,” with a nostalgic smile, 0-chan slowly recalled her memories of the Occult Film Club’s previous leader. “But he’s always going on and on about something, whether it’s the occult, or movies, or even his brother. Especially his brother; he always had some praise or comment to make about E-noru. Even though I haven’t met the boy before, with how much of him E-ki kept talking about, it feels like we’ve been close friends for a long time!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hey, did you know?"
> 
> Silence. The fake play had come to its end, after all. But I continued to regard _that person_ with unease.
> 
> "Never trust what that boy says, no matter what."
> 
> Even so, he continued to talk in that regretful voice. As if wanting to apologise for a past mistake.
> 
> "He's always alone. And because of that, he always cries."
> 
> "...And if I end up trusting him anyway?"
> 
> I asked, even though I had heard this conversation numerous times already.
> 
> The buzzing in my ears faded away in that one moment.
> 
> "He'll become so happy. So happy, in fact, that he'll steal you away."
> 
> All at once, the buzzing resounded in my ears, along with the faded echoes of childish laughter.
> 
> "Tonight, again, Therese will laugh once more."


	7. Intermission: Everyday Backstage

“0-chan… is that how you really feel about E-noru?” C-ta looked at her with scornful eyes, eliciting an awkward chuckle. “The things you said to us earlier… “he’s so cold, nothing like his brother at all!” Are you _suuure_ you think of him as a friend?”

“ _Weeell_ , 0-chan always talks of everyone like they’re her “friends”…” D-ne commented, raising an eyebrow. “I passed by her in the locker room once, and I overheard her saying “B-ko’s a really popular girl, huh; makes me feel lucky that I’m her friend!” …Oh, oops! Sorry, B-ko-chan~!”

“E—eh?! I, ah…” Trailing off, 0-chan gulped at seeing the steam practically rising from B-ko’s angry red face. “I really meant it though, from the bottom of my heart!”

“Leeching off of another girl’s popularity? 0-chan, you really are a cruel person, you know that?” A-ya continued, stoking the fires of B-ko’s rage further.

“He—hey, don’t make it sound worse than it actually is! B-ko, don’t listen to them! I’m _sorryyy_!”

Like a dam bursting, B-ko immediately launched into a angry tirade, the poor 0-chan torn between glaring and helplessly staring at the other three with wide eyes. She slowly backed away from the furiously-complaining girl, looking around wildly for a means of escape. 0-chan was usually calm and composed, always with a cocky smile playing on her lips, so it was pretty amusing to see her so flustered like that.

* * *

“At any rate, A-ya,” 0-chan turned towards the red-eyed boy, having managed to get B-ko to calm down a little. “Back to business. About that last scene yesterday… Because he broke the prop, I didn’t catch the part where E-noru was supposed to drop the letter. Do you remember where he dropped it, more or less? Because I’ll need to put the letter into position as well.”

“Hm… Well, since I’ll be the first one onstage during Act 2, why don’t I put the prop into place?” A-ya offered, scratching the back of his head. “I’m pretty sure I can remember where E-noru dropped it… Oh, and I finished with these. Can you check them for me?”

After replying to 0-chan, A-ya swapped the sling bag he was carrying with the letter prop in the third-year girl’s hand.

“Wow, you really filled it up… Thanks! That’s a huge help; it takes a lot of work to research and write down all those goddamned urban legends!”

“No problem; in fact, I was already interested in all that stuff anyway, so I had fun doing it.”

Replying to 0-chan’s grateful thanks with a charming smile, A-ya watched the older girl head out the door to finish her other work before he grabbed his costume out of the green room’s closet and went with C-ta to prepare for the beginning of the next act.

* * *

“Losing track of time… You really are helpless, A-ya.”

C-ta muttered with a faint chuckle, gazing at the raven-haired boy changing clothes out of the corner of his eye.

“Whatever… At least researching all those things on the internet was worthwhile, but my hands hurt now.” A-ya grumbled, wiggling his fingers to rid the tense feeling plaguing them. “And there were a lot of… _interesting_ rumours, to say the least.”

“They’re all working pretty hard to make sure everything goes well, huh.” Tapping his chin, C-ta voiced his thoughts out loud. “So even the smallest things can end up being a huge help, especially since there’s only eleven of us working on this play-movie project…”

The words flooded A-ya’s mind, reminding him of the reason almost everyone in the Occult Film Club left just about a year ago; the accident that supposedly took E-ki’s life. But then, E-noru appeared in front of A-ya, B-ko, C-ta and D-ne one day and promised to tell them the truth if they could help him finish the project his brother had worked so hard on. And then he managed to convince the remaining members of the Occult Film Club too.

But something struck itself as weird in A-ya’s thoughts; why did everyone think E-ki died after the accident? Did nobody think to check, or ask his parents or something? And why was E-noru being so secretive about E-ki’s actually being alive? He even made them all promise to not reveal E-ki’s survival to the other students or teachers of the school, until they had finished filming the movie. Was that even allowed?

“Hm…” A-ya hands, busy adjusting the collar and buttons of the elaborate outfit he had put on, gradually came to a stop, hanging in mid-air just in front of his chest.

* * *

“Hey, everyone! Listen up!”

E-noru, who’d been practicing his lines onstage and observing the others with their preparation, hollered at the top of his lungs, loud enough for the other ten scattered around the theater to hear.

“Looks like we’re almost done with the final adjustments for tonight’s set! 1-kun, 0-chan, I know you’ve been working on the props ever since classes finished today, so you guys should head home for now and get some rest. You can come back at around 10pm to set up the camera and sound equipment, alright?”

“O~kay… Bye-bye~!”

“Got it. See you later, then!”

With a shared glance, the two third-years students bowed and went out the door, chattering happily between themselves.

“And the rest of you,” E-noru shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone. “We’re gonna do one last rehearsal before you can take the rest of the afternoon off, okay? Meet up in green room number 2!”

Everyone sounded their agreement, and headed towards the aforementioned preparation room. All of a sudden, A-ya recalled 0-chan’s earlier words, about the letter prop he was currently holding in his hands. He’d completely forgotten about it.

“Oi, E-noru!” He called out, holding up the white sheet of paper and waving it around. “0-chan asked me to put this prop into place, so I’ll be a little late, alright?”

“Sure! Don’t take too long, though!” E-noru replied, making an OK gesture with one hand. “Your line is the first one in Act 2, after all!”

Returning his attention to the animated conversation going on between the others, E-noru pulled the door shut behind him, the click of a lock resounding through the main room of the building.

* * *

A-ya glanced towards the back of the stage. The spotlight was still shining brightly, and B-ka was still working on the black box prop, fiddling with the small device that played the mechanical sound of the clocktower’s needle. He’d been working on it since he arrived at the theater, after the school bell rang signalling the end of classes.

“Hey, B-ka…”

“Hm? Need anything, A-ya?” B-ka called out without turning around, attention fully fixated on the damaged device in his hands. “I’ll be all done once this is fixed, so could you wait a minute?”

“…Okay.”

A-ya knelt down beside the smaller boy, observing his hands moving rapidly as they worked to restore the mp3 player to a usable state. A few parts lay scattered around, having been shaken loose during E-noru’s earlier accident. Noticing B-ka’s frustrated, puzzled look, A-ya grabbed one of the small metal pieces and handed it to him, earning a mumbled thanks.

“Yeah, that’s the right one… And then this goes here, and that one…”

“Looks pretty complicated.”

“Not really.” B-ka sighed, stretching his back and wincing at the audible crack it emitted, a result of holding his hunched posture for about an hour or two. “Just, it’s been a long time since I had to fix things like this. Not since we put on that 'High-Class Apartment Park' play, that one was a nightmare... oh, and A-ya?”

“Yeah?”

“Since you’re here,” finally finishing the task at hand, B-ka slotted the device into its holder in the black box prop, letting out a satisfied hum as it slid perfectly into place. “Would you mind helping me put this prop into place? And the seven vessel props, too.”

“Alright.”

Working together, the two boys carefully placed the seven colour-coded ‘collection’ items into place, straightening them upon the respective pedestals in the ‘display room’. Then, rolling up their sleeves, they hefted the black box prop and began making their way up the spiral staircase, feeling their way on the shaky steps with their feet.

“You know,” B-ka panted out, struggling to keep a hold on the featureless black box. “This whole movie-play thing, it’s kinda crazy. All the really complicated props and the weird script, it’s nothing like one of E-ki’s usual film projects.”

“Seriously? Huh.” A-ya managed to choke out, similarly short of breath. “But, don’t you think it’s a little suspicious? Some kid shows up and claims to be your friend’s brother, then asks you to finish the incomplete project you guys were working on before?”

“Maybe, but I’d trust E-ki with my life,” the purple-eyed boy retorted, managing to clamber up the last few steep steps. “So if E-noru says we have to do it, then we’ll do it. Besides… He said he’s going to take us to see E-ki after it’s finished, so…”

A-ya gave B-ka a side-eyed glance, noticing the wistful look the smaller boy wore as he trailed off, a thousand-yard stare on his face. Finally lugging the large prop into place, the two students plopped themselves onto the floor, wiping the sweat from their forehead.

* * *

Letting his eyes absent-mindedly wander around the tiny upper stage platform, A-ya noticed something glimmer in the corner of his eye. He turned to it and saw something white on the floor, wedged underneath the black box prop they had just moved into place. It looked like the letter prop E-noru had dropped at the end of Act 1, but…

“Impossible.” A-ya muttered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the letter prop 0-chan had handed to him earlier on. “I have it right here, so… That can’t be…”

B-ka, noticing A-ya’s face twisted into a frown, turned around and caught sight of the same thing. Eyebrows raised in muddled confusion, he crawled over to it and pulled it out from under the black box prop, scrutinising it as he turned it over again and again in his hands.

“Huh? It’s addressed to E-noru…” he mumbled, showing it to A-ya as the red-eyed boy scooted closer, comparing it with the letter prop in his hands. “And… I thought I saw it… Glow…?”

The prop in A-ya’s hands didn’t have any name written on it, so the letter in B-ka’s hands couldn’t be a mere copy or imitation of that. They inspected it all over, trying to find out the cause of the split-second glow, but it was just a perfectly normal piece of paper.

There was no sender’s name written, yet it was addressed to E-noru.

Who in the world could it be from?

With trembling hands, B-ka opened the envelope and read through the letter inside. Instantly, the information hidden inside poured into his head like a flood. His shaking fingers dropped the piece of paper, and he was struck with delusion – as if the world he’d believed in all this time was just a distant fairytale, and everything up to then was in the world of the screenplay all along.

“ **What. Is. This.** ”

A-ya watched him with muted interest, face lighting up in eager curiosity as B-ka’s face turned from a confused pout to a twisted, ugly scowl. Picking up the dropped letter, he let his eyes scan through the words, feeling his own neutral expression transform into a manic, demented grin as the weight of the contents of the letter settled itself in his mind.

“Ah… _Ahahaha… **AhaHAhaHAH**_!”

* * *

Trying to push down the violent emotions welling up in their minds, their thoughts came to be dominated by bizarre, different but ultimately similar feelings. Shakily rising to their feet, their legs took a synchronised step, and then another.

In the distance, the sound of the buzzer could be heard, denoting the start of the next act. And the applause of a single person echoed through the theater, now eerily silent.

But A-ya and B-ka had already broken into a run, and unable to stop themselves, they hurried down the spiral stairs, towards the green room where everyone had gathered.

To the Fox… And the unwanted reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cold smell of anesthetic wafted through the air, followed by a faint beeping at regular intervals.
> 
> I gave another helpless sigh. So, once again it had all progressed to this moment in time.
> 
> That person in front of me turned around, finally meeting my red eyes with their own golden ones.
> 
> "So, do you want to continue?"
> 
> A tired voice, nothing like the callous, childish laughter I'd heard before time and time again.
> 
> "Of course. Let's do it—"
> 
> one
> 
> more
> 
> time.


	8. Re:Act 1.1: Retribution -Revival-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am SO sorry for the delay we lost the file and basically had to rewrite the entire thing thank god one of us manually wrote down a summary/outline in her notebook
> 
> anyway because of that unfortunate event, updates will now be more on a monthly/when-we-finished-rewriting-the-chapter kind of basis so our sincerest apologies for the fact
> 
> without further ado, onwards with the show!

Red flames… Screaming… A golden key, glinting coldly under the spotlight’s shine…

“                                         ”

* * *

E-ki woke up with a start, cold sweat running down his brow. As his eyes tried to focus on an unfamiliar unknown, he went back and sifted through his memories from earlier. After a long period of recollection, he took a big, deep breath to steel his nerves, and raised his head to take a look at his surroundings.

A bed with a splendorous canopy met his unfocused eyes. The golden-eyed boy wiped his face with a cold, clammy hand, remembering arriving late to the school theater in the evening, helping with prop-making… Being teased by 0-chan about his affections toward B-ka and D-suke, joking with A-no and C-na about 1-kun’s dislike of horror stories… Then the curtains rising, and the five of them performing Act 1 in front of the camera’s lens and all the others… And then what?

The noise of a buzzer and a single person’s applause repeated endlessly in his thoughts, ringing in his ears… But as much as he focused his thoughts to try and place where and when he had heard those sounds, E-ki could only draw up a blank, unable to recall what happened next.

“Is this… One of the green rooms?” E-ki wondered aloud, scratching the back of his head. He hadn’t slept well the day before, so he was at peak fatigue. Maybe once they had concluded Act 1’s filming, he had a dizzy spell and collapsed? He glanced out the window and saw a beautiful full moon hanging high up among the clouds, reaching for the sky’s midpoint…

“So it’s still midnight?”

The wind blew fiercely outside, shaking the large tree branches and moaning against the window’s thick glass. It felt like it was going to rain any minute. Suddenly, E-ki heard loud sounds mixing in with the whispering breeze – thump, _thump_ , _**thump**_.

What could be making that noise? Seeming to reverberate from far away, the heartbeat-like sounds continued ceaselessly. But even though E-ki could hear it clearly like it was close at hand, the way it echoed implied that the source was quite distant, like a clocktower’s needle hanging far above.

Taking a look around, E-ki realised that there was nobody else in the room… Then the sound abruptly stopped, as if wanting to hide itself from the now wide-awake boy. E-ki shook his head; he was probably just hearing things.

More importantly, what was everyone else thinking?! There was no way they decided to just leave him alone in the theater building and go back home themselves, right? It had gotten so late already, his mother must be worried sick, waiting for him… And then, there was the problem of _that person_ seeing the play…

“I have to hurry…”

* * *

Launching himself out of the bed and taking one look around the strange room, E-ki twisted the doorknob and headed out into the hallway. Lamps were placed every few meters along the wall of the dark hallway, giving off a gloomy air.

Did the theater always have a hallway like this? The school’s theater building did have some parts renovated over the years, but for the most part, the teachers and seniors all said that it retained the same simplistic interior from the early days of its construction…

Yet the lights, windows, walls, floors… Everything E-ki saw was clearly different from what he was used to. Had they renovated again, while he was asleep…? No, that’s ridiculous, and would probably take much longer than a day. E-ki pushed the thought back, trying to keep his head clear.

Walking down the long hallway, E-ki spotted the west stairwell up ahead. It, too, was strangely similar, yet somehow different from the ordinary theater he knew.

“Where… Am I?”

He peered down the hallways surrounding the staircase. Then, he noticed B-ka and another male student he couldn’t recognize standing in front of a stage below. But were the stairs always this long? The two of them seemed close enough, but it felt like they were an eternity away.

“B-ka! And, uh… B-ka’s friend?” Leaning on the handrail, E-ki raised his voice and called out to them, but they didn’t respond. Maybe they couldn’t hear him? He yelled at them again, louder.

“Hey! You two!”

The two of them spun around to face the golden-eyed boy at nearly the same time.

“Ah… You broke the clocktower’s heart…”

 “I can’t believe it…”

“Eh? Clocktower’s heart?” Raising his eyebrows in surprise, E-ki stammered. Those lines… They sounded similar to the ones in the script he had prepared, but… Tapping his chin, E-ki closed his eyes and thought, hard. No… The script of ‘Alice in Everland’ had no such lines, so why?

Did they read _the original script_ that he had tried to so hard to keep a secret…?

…No, B-ka wouldn’t do such an unspeakable thing. After all, he trusted E-ki, and E-ki trusted him as well. And all the other members of the Occult Film Club, too, so B-ka’s friend surely wouldn’t have done so either.

Maybe they were just practicing by saying whatever came to mind, but in their character’s personality. B-ka especially had trouble with keeping in the role of the gloomy Fourth Alice, so he’d be likely to mess up – something he wouldn’t stop apologising to E-ki for. B-ka’s friend, though, E-ki didn’t know… Maybe he’s just helping B-ka out?

“…Um, I guess I fell asleep.” E-ki mumbled, letting a sheepish smile fall on his lips. “I might have passed out? Did someone carry me to a bed? I really can’t remember much…”

“Passed out…? Whatever does he mean?” B-ka asked, turning to face the brown-haired boy with a puzzled look.

“Don’t ask me!” The other boy retorted, revealing a scandalised, not-guilty look, as if B-ka was accusing him of a horrible crime. “I was just about to check on our guest here, but it seems like he woke up on his own!”

“Huh…?” So E-ki hadn’t collapsed of excitement or overexertion, at least. But then, why was he sleeping in a bed?

“Everyone went to bed on their own two feet!” Hiding his mouth behind a hand, like trying to stifle a laugh, B-ka blinked innocently, large eyes twinkling in the dim light.

“Yup! Everyone went on their own two feet!” The other boy parroted, holding a hand on his hip. “To bed they went, to sleep!”

“Everyone…? S—So everyone’s gone home but you two?!”

They did say they wanted to discuss things further tomorrow and head back home for the day, so maybe they already packed up the props and equipment and left. Surely E-ki wasn’t the only one who was completely tuckered out, so it’s possible, and maybe they really did forget about him and left him alone for the night… But then, why were these two still here?

“Yes. Because the party’s over, so everyone went to their rooms.”

* * *

Jolted out of his thoughts, E-ki jumped, choking back a surprised gasp. What party? He wasn’t invited to any party! Unless… He really did take part, but enjoyed himself so much that he forgot about it… That couldn’t be the answer, right?

Feeling a headache creeping up on him from the overwhelming thoughts swarming his brain, E-ki groaned, holding a hand to his forehead.

If this place isn’t the school’s theater building, then it’s possible it’s a high-class hotel in some corner of the prefecture which 0-chan… Or possibly even 1-kun, had paid for them to stay at. They were the self-proclaimed biggest fans of the Occult Film Club, and it was entirely in character for them to splurge and treat E-ki and the rest of the club members to a celebration for an immensely successful recording session.

It was the only logical explanation, E-ki decided with a sigh. Yes, that definitely was it.

“…Besides, the play has stopped.”

“Huh…?” With a metallic ringing sound playing in his imagination like a train crashing against a wall, E-ki’s train of thought came crashing to a halt. His mouth hung open in surprise, not believing the words that left B-ka’s lips.

“Time itself has stopped!” The brown-haired boy shook his head, raising his gaze to stare at the ceiling with a sorrowful expression.

“Listen! Because the clocktower’s heart is broken, time in the play has stopped!!!” Pointing at the ceiling, B-ka glared at E-ki, imploring him to strain his ears. “Didn’t you hear it? The clocktower’s heartbeat… Just before you appeared, it stopped!”

“Heehee… It stopped… Ahahahahah!” The other boy laughed, lowering his head to stare at E-ki with wild, wide-open eyes.

Why did things feel so… Off? They were having a normal conversation, or as normal as it could be given the circumstances, yet E-ki had the feeling that things were somehow… Misaligned.

“Something’s wrong…”

Hurrying down the last of the staircase’s steps, E-ki missed the final step and went tumbling forwards, landing on his back with a yelp. The two boys moved closer, and E-ki finally managed to snatch a glimpse of them up close. The strange sense of unfamiliarity, and the perceived stiffness of the two before him, like they were treating him as nothing but a stranger, it was because…

B-ka’s eyes, normally a bright purple, had been replaced with a dull gold… And there were no pupils in the back of the gleaming irises. The brown-haired boy’s eyes were the same, only with a purple colour that seemed to glow in the dark lighting.

“Metal…?”

Taking the purple-eyed boy’s offered hand, E-ki hefted himself to his feet, straightening his clothes and avoiding the piercing gazes of the other two. Having made physical contact with the taller boy, he noticed… The unmistakable, definite feeling of metal. Not just metallic makeup for the play, but actual metal, of a distinct coolness highly unusual for a normal human’s skin to feel like.

“Well, yeah?” The brunet cocked his head to the side, smiling. “Didn’t we tell you already? We’re the awakened vessels!”

“W—Why…?”

“Why, you ask…?” Curling his lips into a pout, B-ka held his hands to his cheeks, making a face as if asking _“did you already forget?”_ to E-ki. “You mean, why we vessels can talk? Or why we vessels have awakened? Because we told you that, too; we wanted to be closer to our dear friend, the Forgotten Playwright!”

A shiver travelled down E-ki’s spine at their eerie, uncanny, inhuman grins. No. What he had wanted to ask was _“What have you done to my friend?! Where’s the real B-ka?!”_ The brunet’s skin definitely had the distinct feeling of being made out of metal.

And while he hadn’t had the chance to determine B-ka’s condition, E-ki was sure that he, too… Chancing a glance, he saw that the smaller boy’s hands had the exact same metallic gleam as the brunet’s.

In the film, B-ka was supposed to act as the timid, easily-frightened Fourth Alice, and he had practiced endlessly to be able to assume that role within a blink of the eye. But what E-ki saw now was a character from _the original script_ , the Cursed Director of the theater in the woods… And that meant that the boy standing next to B-ka was acting as the Foolish Butler, the comedic relief for the other inhabitants of the Clockwork Theater.

But how could they stay so calm about their bodies being turned into their actual, non-human characters…? No, not even that; how could it look like they were enjoying this nightmarish situation?!

* * *

Nervously meeting B-ka—no, the Director’s gaze, E-ki saw how they sparkled with curiosity as they stared back at him. They really were a dull golden colour, nothing like the usual purple hue tinged with a gentle warmth. They were so cold-looking, E-ki could only see them as truly being made out of dulled gold.

He kept his gaze fixed, noting with more and more apprehension crawling up his back as the Director didn’t even blink, nor look away. And still he looked up at E-ki joyously; it felt as if he were staring straight into his soul.

E-ki noticed the Butler’s lips lifting slightly out of the corner of his eye, but the way his eyes didn’t indicate an honest smile… And there was no warmth or friendliness behind his irises either, only a cold, impatient unfamiliarity.

E-ki wanted to run, to get away from these terrifying two at once, but his legs wouldn’t budge, as if rooted to the spot. His limbs had completely locked up, frozen in terror. H—He had to say something… E-ki could only hear his own frantic heartbeat loudly thumping against his chest.

He was terrified of the silence.

He was terrified of the doppelgängers in front of him.

“Uh, I… I’m wo—worried about th—the others… I—I’ll go see them!” E-ki finally forced out, managing to lift his legs and drag them into a sprint.

“Okay!”

“Got it!”

Letting his running feet move on their own, E-ki didn’t look back as he quickly took off along the length of the stage, desperate to get some distance between himself and the creepy duo. He could hear their uneasy mutterings from behind, echoing off the theater’s tall ceiling. He felt an uneasiness rising up from the pit of his stomach, and he just couldn’t bring himself to stay there any longer.

“B-ka as his friend are scaryyy…”

No. That wasn’t them. Just thinking about the reason they terrified him was nerve-wracking. A thought that had briefly crossed E-ki’s mind upon waking up, the settled down in the far back of his brain, came crawling up his neck again, making the hairs there stand on end.

It can’t be… No, it definitely can’t… It’s impossible!

* * *

At any rate, E-ki had to find someone, or call for help. Call for…

That’s right. He should call someone. Even after midnight, he’d seen his mother stay up late in order to finish her paperwork. And today was a Friday, so there’d be even more papers to check and sign than usual. So surely she would still be awake, even now. Worst case scenario, he’d have to send a message to _that person_ , but by now anything was better than staying in this strange place.

E-ki hastily made his way back the direction he came from, hoping that he didn’t have to meet those two again… Once he made it to the front of the stage facing the front door, he let his eyes dart around nervously, heaving a sigh of relief. They weren’t there anymore.

Pulling his cellphone out of his pocket, E-ki took a quick glance at the screen, wincing as the sudden bright light pierced the darkness. No reception signal. He cursed under his breath, slipping the device back into his pocket.

“Maybe, the front door…”

E-ki put his hands on the heavy, wooden double doors. But pushing and pulling didn’t even budge it an inch, even if he shoved his entire body weight against the rotting planks. It didn’t look locked, though… Weren’t there any other means of escape?

“…Yes! The windows near the guest bedrooms shouldn’t be locked, so…” Head shooting up as the idea registered itself in his mind, E-ki cheered quietly, pumping a fist in the air. “Gotta get to the stairs…”

At that point in his thoughts, E-ki’s legs, which were headed back to the same hallway he’s just gone through earlier, came to a gradual stop.

“…How did I already know?”

E-ki wasn’t looking anywhere but ahead of himself, earlier, and he certainly didn’t have the right state of mind at the time to be noticing the windows. He gulped down the saliva that had begun to pool on his tongue.

Head still reeling in utter confusion, E-ki took careful steps, one at a time. Paintings, both large and small, hung on both sides of the hallway. They all seemed to share the same motif, though E-ki for the life of him couldn’t figure out _what_ exactly, and the red moonlight streaming in the windows made it look like the subjects were spattered with fresh blood.

Finally, he arrived at one of the two large windows on the first floor, and sure enough, it wasn’t locked. But try as he might, it too wouldn’t open. The sound of raindrops lightly pitter-pattering upon the leaves outside slowly wormed its way into his ears. Branches of trees danced in the rising winds, and the forest appeared particularly eerie under the moon’s scarlet-crimson shine.

Forest… Why was he in a forest? A forest in the dead of night. A theater in the middle of the woods – the Clockwork Theater. B-ka and his friend being ‘awakened vessels’. And despite him surely never being here before, E-ki knew where things were… How else did his body know, with pinpoint accuracy, about the windows near the guest bedrooms?

That unthinkable, dream-like possibility crept up closer to his vision, and E-ki resisted the urge to just nod along and agree to it wholeheartedly. This was the perfect imitation of the fake world… The endlessly repeating dreamland that _that person_ had wrote into reality… The world of the Dream’s Conclusion…

E-ki didn’t know this theater; he’d never been here before… But the Irregular Dreamer in the fairytale knew about it. Because, before the party, he’d followed the dolls and along and helped them in their task to close the windows before the storm arrived… That miniscule detail, about the windows near the guest bedrooms on the first floor, it was written in the story.

His heart thumped heavily against his chest, and a lump formed in his throat, his whole body trembling like a leaf in the icy breeze.

“I’m just having a bad dream…”

That’s what E-ki wanted to believe. But if this really were the world of the play… He ran back down the stairs and approached the stage he’d seen earlier, in front of the main doors.

* * *

“ _ **What are you doing over there?!**_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to redo it, all over again.
> 
> I hate regretting it all. 
> 
> I hate being alone. 
> 
> I hate impostors. 
> 
> I hate liars. 
> 
> I hate imitations. 
> 
> I hate it all. 
> 
> That person said, with such conviction. Somehow, I couldn't find the voice to say what I wanted to.
> 
> Watching the scenes unfold in front of us, helpless to do anything but become an audience to this tragedy.
> 
> ...no. That's not it.
> 
> "I'm not just the audience, am I."
> 
> A statement, not a question.
> 
> Golden eyes shimmered in the dark, and a fox-like smile.
> 
> "So, you've finally realized it, have you?"
> 
> ...
> 
> Childish laughter. My own voice. Red eyes, like the twilight's moon.
> 
> "Now, my dear Clockwork Narrator... What kind of lie are you going to tell next?"


	9. Re:Act 1.2: Bell of Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bweh bwep bwep bwaaah  
> i have nothing to say except maybe "im really sorry" and also "i still dont know how to write the E's"

Startled by the sudden echoing voice, E-ki’s eyes darted wildly around as he searched for and caught sight of the source of the interruption; D-suke, standing in the hallway upstairs, looming over E-ki from the handrail with an anxious look on his face.

“D—D-suke!” Almost sobbing out his name, E-ki was relieved to spot the taller boy. Unlike B-ka and his brown-haired friend back there, D-suke looked perfectly normal and human. E-ki sprinted up the stairs to meet him, desperate to see a familiar face.

“You shouldn’t run anywhere near the stairs, you know.” The cobalt-haired boy scolded, anxious expression melting into that of disapproval, like one talking to a stubborn child that wouldn’t listen to sound advice. “The theater is unspeakably old, and the steps are steep and rather flimsy. An accident once happened here, you see.”

“Huh…?”

“There are many strange rumours being spread around, too… And there’s a lot of things I don’t know about, even after being awakened for… A trillion years, I think?” Ignoring E-ki’s befuddled grunt, D-suke continued on, letting his shoulders slump into a defeated slouch. “I’m almost bored of hearing about horror this and occult that every day. Now then, hurry up; everyone’s been waiting in the living room for quite a while now.”

“U—Um,” stuttering, E-ki reached out and grabbed onto D-suke’s sleeve, stumbling over his heavy legs. “D-suke, wait, please, I don’t understand—“

Breathing in deeply to calm his nerves as D-suke approached and looked him in the eye, E-ki’s words tumbled out without heed, stained with frenzied desperation.

“I just saw it! There’s something weird going on with B-ka and the other guy! And they keep calling themselves ‘awakened vessels’…” Voice raised to an almost-shout, E-ki held his head in his hands, the images fresh in his mind returning quickly and easily as he poured out his worries to D-suke.

“Their skin felt like metal! The two of them aren’t human anymore! Please, tell me, where—where is this place?! Where are we?! What happened while I was asleep?!”

“Hm…? Did you hit your head on something, Dreamer? We’ve already recounted our story to you yesterday.” D-suke blinked a few times, then tilted his head aside. “And of course their skin would feel like metal… They’ve been that way ever since we’ve gained sentience on that fateful day, and since they’re the awakened Golden Key and Venom Sword, well…”

“Th… That’s not what I meant!” Crying out, E-ki shook his head in anguish, bewildered. “Don’t joke around, D-suke… They’re supposed to be human! They were until a while ago!”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Now wary of the despairing boy, D-suke eyed E-ki with suspicious eyes, taking a step back in precaution. “But when I awakened as the Heavenly Lord, they had already become the Cursed Director and the Foolish Butler. I don’t know exactly how… But perhaps it was a miracle of some sort. And their metallic skin is a result of being awakened from vessels made of metal, so…”

Aghast, E-ki turned away from D-suke’s unflinching stare. It was the same feeling as when he had talked to B-ka and the other student… He was talking and acting just as if he were really…!

* * *

“…Ah.”

“Did you… see something frightening here, near the stage?” D-suke asked, letting his gaze fall away from E-ki’s scared face and turn towards the aforementioned stage. “A vision, or a delusion, or a dream, perhaps?”

E-ki sensed the taller boy’s always-calm eyes gaining a tinge of disturbance. The young, aristocratic Heavenly Lord born from the Wine Glass, a vessel of civility and knowledge, but also of extravagance and gluttony. His cold gaze shadowed with gloom yet swirling with lunacy in its depths, he was the second-in-command of the Clockwork Theater, with the burden of organising its whimsical residents to perform their nightly duties… That was the kind of aura he gave off.

The usual laid-back and thoughtful student who acted as the peacekeeper of the group, had a weakness for junk food, and was easily won over by B-ka’s cuteness… This was entirely dissimilar to that gentle personality of D-suke’s.

“Well…” Sighing, D-su—no, the Lord pushed back his bangs with a trembling hand, revealing teary red eyes that seemed to glow under the bloody moonlight. “It certainly wouldn’t be surprising to hear that you did have a nightmare. Something strange seems to be happening to this world…”

His melancholic eyes blurred a little bit more as he lifted his head to gaze straight at E-ki.

“…The last page of the script has gone missing.”

* * *

Everyone else besides D-suke and E-ki had already gathered themselves in the living room. Hesitantly, the golden-haired boy took a sip from the cup of tea that A-no had poured for him.

As his eyes slowly scanned each and every one of the others’ faces, from the familiar B-ka’s bored pout to the unfamiliar Doll Twins’ menacing grins… E-ki had a sudden flash of déjà vu.

In Act 1 of _the script that was never meant to be_ , the Dreamer entered the theater in the woods and carefully inspected each of the seven awakened vessels; this scene felt exactly the same, a perfect copy of the _forbidden script’s description_. Even the people emanated a very similar mood, that of a wary impatience, as if awaiting a grand event to unfold.

And yet… a few antique-looking candleholders dotted the walls of the room, barely giving off the candles’ light and making the huge space feel more claustrophobic than it really was. The cast and the set…

Wherever E-ki turned his gaze, he saw an almost-perfect recreation of the fake world in the screenplay’s script. An _almost-perfect imitation_ , but not quite. Almost as if the person who decided to bring this world into reality didn’t think it would be important to create a _one-to-one reflection_ of the play’s world, as if to do such an _aimless_ thing would simply be a waste of time.

As if it didn’t matter that the world wasn’t perfectly the same, so long as it felt _similar enough to the original that the differences wouldn’t be noticed_.

* * *

“To think that the last page would have disappeared…” the Hellish Lady, C-na, elegantly sipping her tea, brought down her teacup to her saucer with a sigh.

“Oh, what should we do? The play can’t go on like this, ehehee…” The Foolish Butler giggled, hiding his smile behind a gloved hand. “It’s kind of exciting, though!”

“Hey, don’t treat this like a game…” A-no, as the Derisive Maid, scowled angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. “Time’s stopped, and all you can say is that it’s ‘kind of exciting’?!”

A-no and the brown-haired boy… E-ki watched their interaction out of the corner of his eye. The Butler, whose words feigned concern, but in fact hid a naïve aura of enjoyment, and the Maid, who wouldn’t stop insulting others’ words with her sharp tongue – even if what the others said was relatively sane and useful information.

E-ki could see how they resembled the A-no he knew and perhaps one of B-ka’s many friends he had met at school, but there were some major conflicts as well.

For starters, each and every one of the Occult Film Club members often got caught up in things, but the one rule they had all unanimously agreed on was that they would never joke around about matters which clearly concerned the others.

And whenever anyone’s mischief did cross the line, A-no was always ready to give them a ‘nice’ reminder, one usually dealt with her fists.

E-ki didn’t feel that comfortable sense of stability between them now. But… maybe, just maybe, they only happened to be _acting_ that way right now.

In any case, he couldn’t just keep guessing and making random shots in the dark; he had to ask.

“Um… A-no… a-and B-ka’s friend?” E-ki’s voice stutteringly left his lips. But they didn’t even turn his way.

“What is it, little Dreamer?” Rather than the two he was trying grab the attention of, the monocle-wearing Lady sitting beside him spoke up, voice tinged with concern but face shrouded with barely-concealed glee.

“Uh—um…! C-na, I want to talk to A-no and the other person…” Turning to look at A-no, E-ki made eye contact with her, fingers trembling with the effort. She stared back at him like she was looking at an unwanted, uninvited guest, a complete stranger. The brunet, instead, kept a whimsical, lopsided smile on his lips as E-ki desperately tried to avoid his gaze.

“Little Dreamer, is everything okay?”

Dreamer… That was the name of the lead role in the _stolen script_ , as well as the name of the lead role in the _rewritten script_. Since both Dreamers in both plays preferred not to be called by their names, the others also refused to tell her theirs, both in the fake world of ‘Alice in Everland’ and the fake world of ‘End of Elise’… And yet, after that, the two plots for the two movies branched off in two completely different arcs, and ended with two very different conclusions.

It couldn’t be…

Even though he had worked so hard to make sure that the similarities between the two scripts were at a minimum, in the end, _that person_ somehow still managed to see that they were one and the same.

So, calling them by their true names wouldn’t get through to them at all?

E-ki thought back to when he was talking with D-suke near the stairs. “A-no”, “B-ka”, “C-na”, even “D-suke”… those were all names of people who _didn’t exist_ in this world of the play, so to speak.

No… here, in the world of the script that shouldn’t have been made, there only existed the seven awakened vessels of the theater in the woods. Not humans, not even living things, just pitiful existences meant to act out the Forgotten Playwright’s scripts for eternity…

And that would mean that the Forgotten Playwright is…

(…you.)

And that, when the play came to its conclusion, he would…

(You’ll win this game?)

* * *

“D-suke!” E-ki tried calling the cobalt-haired boy out by name again, trying to shake the dark thoughts from his mind, but nobody showed any positive reaction to it, only flinching away when E-ki stretched out a hand to grab onto D-suke’s. The red-eyed boy himself seemed completely unconscious of being “D-suke”, and just sat in his seat, shooting E-ki a troubled glare.

Thump, thump, thump—E-ki’s heart beat fast in his chest, the dull thudding seeming to reverberate through the empty air and echo off the theater’s high ceiling.

“Did you, heh… Did you all forget? Come on, listen to me! This is all just a— a joke, right?!” Unable to stand their disgusted reactions, E-ki stood from his chair, raising his voice to a shout as broken pleas escaped his mouth. “It’s not funny anymore! Did you forget about the real world, about yourselves?! This isn’t reality! I-It’s just a fake world… the world of the screenplay! Guys… hey, guys?!”

But everyone seemed to remember nothing, and they all just silently blinked at E-ki. Even the two usually laughing Doll Twins had reduced their grins to a confused grimace.

“…B… B-ka! B-ka, please!!!”

Vainly wiping at the tears streaming down his cheeks with the heel of his palm, E-ki cried out for the smaller boy. The one who had not long ago been elated to have received the role of the Fourth Alice, the one that seemed to have a crush on the golden-eyed boy, the shy and timid one who loved and was loved by all his friends.

But the Director only widened his dull golden eyes, his face a shadow of fear and unfamiliarity.

Not a single person responded to their own name. E-ki raised his voice to a ear-shattering scream, frenziedly trying to wake them up, to make them see that the world was only an imitation, a fake.

C-na quickly grabbed and pulled on E-ki’s arm, forcing him to sit down. She stared squarely in his eyes and spoke with a steely voice.

“Come now, little Dreamer. Calm down for a moment, don’t make such a fuss.” She admonished, only loosening her vice-like grip on E-ki’s wrist after he gave a tearful nod. “Are you, ah… are you all right now? I mean, it’s obvious that this is the fake world of the play… But why are you so troubled over that?”

Everyone shook their heads at E-ki, looking at him like he was the one that had gone mad. They seemed slightly afraid, visibly keeping their distance from him.

To them… to the actors of the movie, the role of the uninvited guest had just arbitrarily started asking these questions, his demeanour completely changed after a night of fitful not-sleep, talking about people that didn’t belong to their world, things that they didn’t understand…

* * *

But no, it wasn’t like that at all, wasn't it?

They knew that this world was just an aimless reflection of reality.

They said things about the “script”, and were fully aware that they were just _acting out their roles_.

Yet, at the same time, they believed this fake world to be the real one, without a hint of doubt.

As if the fake screenplay had been exchanged for reality, just like that.

…In this world, the “true” world – their true existences, their true memories, their true selves – everything had vanished, along with the truth.

* * *

“I’m sure that the Dreamer is just worried; after all, the last page had just vanished into thin air… Isn’t that right?” D-suke said anxiously, giving the wild-eyed E-ki an apprehensive glance. “Without that part of the script, we don’t know how this play will end, which conclusion we will receive. It’s perfectly reasonable to be worried over such a thing.”

The play’s conclusion… Act 1 of End of Elise was over, so now they should have begun to enter Act 2. But strangely, despite having almost fully committed _the script that shouldn’t have been_ to memory, E-ki couldn’t recall what would have happened next at all. There’d been such a bizarre, unbelievable string of occurrences one after the other, he didn’t even realise that until now.

E-ki’s recollection of what happened during the final moments of Alice in Neverland’s final act, and the events that made up all three acts of End of Elise… As if his thoughts were torn out from the pages of his mind’s book, he could remember neither of those important memories.

All of a sudden, he noticed a book on the glass table in the center, with a bookmark sticking out from between its pages. Gasping, he picked it up and pulled back the black book cover. The screenplay’s script that the others had been talking endlessly about… surely, this must be it.

There, on the first page—

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I realized the role I must take in this story.
> 
> Golden eyes seemed to twinkle with relief, trust, and something that almost seemed like
> 
> _remorse_
> 
> before fluttering close, accompanied by a tired sigh.
> 
> "You won't forget, this time? What you must do?"
> 
> A shake of the head. I won't. I'll remember.
> 
> "Good. Then, I've fulfilled my part of the deal."
> 
> And, just like that, _that person_ disappeared.
> 
> ...No, it was as if they never existed in the first place.
> 
> All the words I've exchanged with that mysterious existence, everything, it all vanished from my memories as they vanished into thin air. Only the knowledge of my role in this story remained, along with a few last words that seemed to echo endlessly in my silent thoughts, over and over again.
> 
> "See you soon, A-ya."


	10. Re:Act 1.3: Claimed Counteroffense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh man two updates in a month woahhhhh a~ma~zing~
> 
> in all seriousness though i might have burned myself out rewriting this thing, and the other two units arent doing so well on their sides either, so the next update might be much later than usual orz

**[ Everlasting∞demisE ]**

**[ Author: the Fox ]**

**[ Search for the True Ending, and find a way to escape the fake world of the screenplay… ]**

Holding back a scream, E-ki continued to flip through the pages, but only pure, unmarred white met his eyes.

(Did nobody else notice what was written on the first page…?)

With shaking fingers, he slowly thumbed through the book until he reached the page where the bookmark sat silently, the black cat’s eyes seeming to stare into his soul.

(Or was it only him who could read what was written in that page?)

And there, on the other side of the page where the bookmark was, ragged edges marked the place where the page had been torn out. Behind that, a single page, which should have been the endroll…

But the letters, the words, the names that should have given credit to the ones acting in the play… while they certainly did exist, couldn’t be processed by E-ki’s mind. He kept running his eyes over and over through the black markings again and again, just to make sure, but all the things he saw were unintelligible in his eyes.

All that he knew for sure was that Act 1 had ended, and Act 2 was to begin soon… But just like the rest of them, he couldn’t predict the definite conclusion to the screenplay. And a script without a determined resolution is…

(Sacrilege. Betrayal. An act that would surely end in demise.)

E-ki’s vision went dark, and trying his best to push down the bile rising up in his throat, he gently placed the book back down on the table. Reaching into his coat pocket with trembling hands, he clenched his right fist into a ball, his scattered thoughts distracting him from the feeling of something in his pocket grazing against his tense knuckles.

The awful possibility that had plagued and haunted his mind since he got out of bed… E-ki kept denying that it could ever be possible, but while he resisted the thought for as long as he could, it felt impossible to resist the certainty that had taken root in his doubts.

They said that, because the last page of the script was gone –or was it the fact that the clocktower’s heart had broken?– time had come to a stop, and the play’s unwritten end foretold a bad future for them all. And no matter how much he tried, E-ki couldn’t remember the definite conclusion to the play.

And there was the strange endroll which his mind couldn’t comprehend, even if he tried his best to read it. It must have meant, without a doubt, that he had already been sucked into the world of the play, and was _trapped in the character of the lead role_.

And only E-ki alone knew that this wasn’t the real world…

It seemed like everyone else had truly become their characters in this unfilmed movie. Even if he asked them things about reality, they showed no reaction beyond doubt and confusion. Not only had everyone turned into “the awakened vessels” and lost their humanity, no one even remarked on that fact or harboured any resentment towards it.

These _were_ the capricious actors of the Clockwork Theater from End of Elise’s script. They weren’t the _real_ people E-ki knew, only fake doppelgängers brought to life by the world of the play.

Where had the real ones gone, then…? Or perhaps, the others were still doing just fine in “reality”, and only he had been whisked away and dragged down into this imitated world? Was there an escape? What could possibly be done to return to “reality”?

* * *

E-ki loved to act, and he especially loved movies, screenplays and the like. The fake worlds created by the scripts took away all the common, boring, mundane scenes that made up the routine of everyday life, cutting it down to only the dramatic and heart-moving moments, inviting the audience to an unimaginable dream world.

It was true that, ever since he could remember, E-ki was possessed by the childish wish of someday escaping into one of the many fictional universes and living out his life there instead. That’s why, with the Occult Film Club, he put his heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears into making new stories and fully immersing himself into the characters he played as, living out another life, even if for just a moment.

Just like _that person_ had been, with the many characters brought to life with the words he wrote…

But now that that selfish dream had been brought forth and exchanged with reality, E-ki felt no satisfaction, only an endless fear of this world of lies.

He couldn’t bring himself to look anyone in the eye, so he just kept staring at the cat bookmark sitting on the black book’s cover in front of him. Such blood-red eyes… E-ki slowly reached out, enraptured by the cat’s unwavering gaze, and a faint buzzing noise, almost like a mocking laugh, seemed to ring in his ears.

But his fingers touched the frail material, and the illusion vanished. The cat bookmark sat silently, only budged slightly to the side by his movement, and the glow from the cat’s red eyes disappeared, turning back into the solid black that made up the cat’s still form. Whatever sound he heard before was immediately swallowed up by the deafening silence.

A-no came over, teapot in hand refilled with freshly brewed tea for D-suke and E-ki. The golden-haired boy thanked her, and uneasily picked up the cup from the saucer. Ah… his fingers wavered, losing their grip, and the teacup fell onto the glass table and shattered with a loud sound, drenching the black book and the bookmark—

(No, that’s not what happened.)

His fingers wavered, but their grip held steady, and E-ki managed to bring the cup to his lips. The sweet smell of milk and flowers wafted through his senses, prompting the boy to let out a sigh. A-no grinned, pleased with the elicited reaction.

He thought for sure that he had dropped it, so why…?

(Déjà vu...)

Maybe it was a case of déjà vu? The cup being shattered into a trillion pieces clearly shone through in his thoughts. Maybe he’d been told “E-ki, be careful!” so many times before that he came to imagine plausible accidents like that in advance? Which meant that he might be at least a little less clumsy that he imagined himself to be, but…

E-ki’s hands expertly grasped the teacup’s handle, designed in such a way that it seemed quite difficult to hold on purpose, and though his fingers shook with uncertainty, the fragile porcelain remained snugly in his hold, as if he had handled it many times before.

“Our maid’s milk tea really is wonderful, isn’t it?” The Lady smiled, folding her hands across her lap. “It just calms your troubled heart… Oh my, did I already say that line? Ufufu…”

C-na repeated an exact line from Act 1 almost verbatim, with the exact same inflection it was supposed to be spoken with. It did have a soothing taste, to be honest. Despite her rough exterior, A-no had tremendous skill when it came to the art of tea-brewing; having made delicious tea for the Occult Film Club members time and time again… That was one of her many hidden quirks.

E-ki recalled having his first drink of her milk tea just a few weeks after forming the Occult Film Club. He’d broken a prop for the movie they were filming at the time, W-sensei scolded him, and D-suke and C-na had chastised him for his lack of caution, so he was pretty depressed.

Having squeezed himself between the scenery props backstage after the project was finished, while struggling to see if he could fix the prop somehow, B-ka suddenly appeared in front of a tearful E-ki, carrying a tray of teatime snacks, two cups and a thermos with him, and just sat quietly by E-ki’s side after pouring him a drink.

With just one sip of the milk tea so carefully prepared for him, the tears E-ki had been holding in flowed freely, as well as babbled nonsense and apologetic words that the smiling B-ka patiently nodded along to, and somehow, he felt so much better.

Ultimately, the broken prop couldn’t be fixed, but E-ki apologized profusely to the stagehands the next day and was easily forgiven. And when he went to thank A-no for her silent help, she just gave him a knowing wink and said, “Punching people always makes _me_ feel better, but it’s alright if that’s just not your, heh, _cup of tea_.”

E-ki imagined the real A-no against the Maid in front of him, and a sharp pain resembling grief welled up from the pit of his stomach. She was so close, yet so far…

* * *

Once he had finished drinking every last drop, E-ki carefully put the teacup back on the saucer, wincing slightly at the fragile, clattering sound it made. The whole time he was busy reminiscing on the past, the others gathered around him seemed to be vigorously discussing the case of the missing page.

Time and time again, someone would raise their voice, laced with anger, almost to a yell. The mood had definitely gotten much tenser than before, the stagnant air dancing with anticipatory static.

“The page was torn out… which means that someone among us must have stolen it!” The Director raised his eyebrows in suspicion, giving a guarded glance towards everyone else in the room. “But who could it be?”

“Director, forgive my impudence,” the Butler interrupted, bringing a hand to his chin in a thoughtful gesture. “But I think it may be a little _too soon_ to jump to conclusions already…?”

“Too soon…? Either _your eyesight_ is going down the drain, or _you_ really are an idiot.” The Maid harshly barked out, reaching over and giving a not-so-light, friendly punch to the Butler’s shoulder. “Look, it’s very clear that the rough tearing points to an unplanned, heat-of-the-moment theft!”

The Butler’s face scrunched in pain, both from the Maid calling him “an idiot” and the immense strength behind her seemingly “friendly” gesture.

“EheHEe! SOMEone STOLE it?” “AhaHAHa! Of COURSE someONE stole IT!” ““But WHO?””

The Doll Twins, with their unnaturally jerky motions, clapped a hand to their mouths, decidedly overjoyed by the mystery at hand. They twirled around the spacious living room, coming to a stop as the Clockwork Doll’s wound-up machinery started to slow.

“The Book of Demise only appears when someone doesn’t fulfil their role in the Playwright’s scripts.” The Lady muttered thoughtfully, taking off her monocle and polishing it with her sleeve. “And aren’t you two always goofing off, adlibbing and deviating from the norm? Was it you two who took the page, out of boredom?”

“You CAN’T just blame US for no REAson…” The Porcelain Doll pouted, throwing her arms around the Clockwork Doll’s shoulders in order to wind up the key in her back.

“Nope, it CERtainly wasn’t US!” The Clockwork Doll added with a grin, clearly enjoying the Porcelain Doll’s closeness and gentle touch.

“Hm, with the way the paper is torn…” mumbling with as much conviction he could muster, the Lord silently watching the unfolding commotion finally spoke up, leaning on one arm in his seat. “It certainly looks like it was ripped quite hastily. I don’t suppose that could speak for the personality of the one who took it…? And the page that was taken, the conclusion of the screenplay…”

“One of us tore out the page to prevent us from finishing the play… Who?”

The tension in the room mounted to an unbearable high, but no one would so much as poke it with a ten-foot pole, lest it all came crashing down on them and suffocate them with the unwanted reality.

“...”

* * *

Nobody spoke a word. Everyone stared down everyone else with distrust in their gleaming eyes.

“NoTHING to SAY? YahaHAHA…”

“Well, if one of us really did steal it, then of course…”

“But who would steal it? And for what purpose, hm?!”

“To STOP us from CARRYing out OUR proMISE! That’s for SURE!”

“Oh my, my… perhaps, they didn’t want the last scene to take place?”

“There’s no doubt about it, they certainly want to destroy the ending. Ufufu… a traitor in our midst.”

“But wouldn’t the traitor have it just as bad? Once we get to that scene, we’ll all…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There wasn't much time left.
> 
> Or, rather, there was all the time in the world, but the limits of their sanity decreased with every reset the timeline suffered.
> 
> I had to fulfil my role now, and fast.
> 
> Already, the lead role of the screenplay has begun to deviate from the script, and act in ways that I had not accounted for.
> 
> A scream, and something shattering into a trillion pieces. No. No no no no no no no-
> 
> "Déjà vu..."
> 
> I whispered into empty air, watching the flickering screen in front of me buzz with static.
> 
> ...The teacup didn't shatter, and the Book and Bookmark of Demise remained safe.
> 
> To affect that fake world, to change reality according to my whims, to help the lead role survive the climax of the story and save them all.
> 
> How many cycles have we went through before I realized my role?
> 
> To even think of the possibility, of the amount of times that they all had died, over and over again, helpless without my intervention... it filled me with dread.
> 
> And.
> 
> Determination.
> 
> ...Hold on, just a little longer. Please.
> 
> I promise, I'll save all of you.
> 
> For that person's sake.


	11. Re:Act 1.4: Summit of Smiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ we tried
> 
> updates gonna be more erratic between one of us facing major exams, another one busy with her part-time job and the last one just about to register for college, so please bear with us

“Wait…” E-ki managed to speak up, finally cutting in after being silent the whole time. All seven pairs of eyes immediately turned their attention to him.

“…If the last page was the one that went missing… is it really that bad?” He stuttered out, eyes nervously darting around the room, avoiding the others’ curious looks. “I mean, uh… You’re all talking freely right now, and the next part, Act 2 is still…”

If this world were a play, then the cast and the set that existed in it could only follow the script. But what if the part describing the scene they had to act out was taken away? Then, they’d have nothing to do, like the intermission in between Act 1 and Act 2 they were having right now.

“Actors can only exist when there is a script. Our existence is based in the fake world of that script, and it becomes our “reality”… But what happens if the script was to disappear?” The Lord asked, knitting his eyebrows together in despair. “Then our existence written within vanishes with it, along with our fake world. Isn’t that obvious…?”

“Eh…?” Blurting out his confusion, E-ki’s eyes opened wide, unable to comprehend the terrifying words spoken to him so calmly and easily.

“To even imagine such a thing…”

“Our inevitable demise.”

“A lying, fake world without a truthful original to imitate…”

“It’s really quite inconceivable.”

Everyone else nodded along, adding their own conflicting emotions to the mix.

“If the screenplay does not conclude according to the script…” the Lord continued his explanation, the look of despair in his face deepening to a resigned smile. “Then, the fake world trapped within cannot exist. This play, and the play within the play, will all cease to exist.”

“EveryONE will GO away! We’ll ALL die… BUT… not REALLY!” The Porcelain Doll gasped, clasping her hands behind her back and giving an innocent giggle. “This FAKE WORLD will have NEver EXISTed in the FIRST place! It’ll be LIKE we were neVER born IN the first PLACE!”

“But as LONG as WE all GO togeTHER, MAYbe that’s NOT too SCAry, RIGHT?” The Clockwork Doll tittered, twirling a stray lock of hair with her thin fingers. “YES, don’t be SCARED! We’ll ALL just DIE at the SAME TIME! EheHEe~!”

“To have lost the last page of his favourite script…” sighing, the Maid stood up and looked at the Doll Twins with fiery resentment in her eyes. “The traitor is definitely _you two_ , because nobody else would dare do such a thing and disrespect the Playwright like _this_!”

“That’s going a bit far, isn’t it?” The Butler spoke up, moving over to defend the Doll Twins from the Maid’s accusatory glare. “To accuse them of trampling on the Playwright’s memory in such a way…”

“That’s RIGHT!” “It WASn’t US!”

* * *

“Then who else would steal it, hm?” The Director narrowed his eyes, twisting his normally-cute pout into a disgusted frown. “Who? If you confess now, then _maybe_ I could forgive you!”

“My dear child, calm down! You look angry enough as it is!” The Lady admonished her surrogate son, clicking her tongue in a disapproving, motherly manner. “Actually, with how much you’re suspecting everyone else… and your current personality being so different from the usual timid shyness I’ve come to expect… Could it be, that you…!”

“…Please, don’t be ridiculous! Why would I ever do something so absurd?! To ruin the script… I can only imagine someone who’s out of their mind! Ha!” Raising his voice to a shout, the Director flung out his arms wide and barked out a desperate laugh. “And what about you, meddlesome butler of ours? So bored with this routine life that you decided to just make your own incident, did you?!”

“Oh, how cruel of you to say that! I’m just diligently serving this theater and its inhabitants, aren’t I?” With an indignant toss of his head, the Butler retorted. “And if you’re going to doubt anyone, the Lord is certainly more suspicious than me!”

“…Why would you pin the blame on me?” Looking honestly surprised and hurt, the Lord pointed at himself with a trembling finger. “I only wish for peace in this theater, more than anyone else…”

“Oh? But THERE’S the HIGHest CHANCE that the LORD did IT!” The Pretentious Doll frowned, shrugging her shoulders. “BeCAUSE he STAYS up the laTEST in this THEAter! AhaHAa!”

“Oh, that’s RIGHT!” Twisting her face into a shocked expression, the Wicked Doll narrowed her eyes. “And he’s UP the earliEST, too! EheHEe!”

“…If you’re going about it that way, then what about you dolls? You don’t need sleep, so you’re always awake, night and day. There’s much more reason for you two to be the traitor than him, is there not?”

“...AH, right YOU are!” “You ARE right! YahaHAHA...”

“But, there could also be the potential for an accomplice, though. The Lord and the Director are always busy around the theater together, taking care of the props and the costumes… No one would suspect them, wherever they were! Because that’s their job as the leaders of this theater, yes? Ufufu…”

“Come to think of it, my Lady… You’ve been looking pretty cheerful this whole time… Are you actually happy that something exciting has finally happened?!”

“…! N-No, I’m not.”

“Tell me, mother… _do you know who the traitor is_?”

* * *

E-ki knew that these people couldn’t be the real ones he knew. Even so, “they”, who had the same appearances as the inseparable friends with an unshakable bond rooted in trust, were quarrelling, arguing and blaming each other. Watching this hurtful scene unfold before him… it pained his heart.

“In any case, this situation is definitely not a good one to be in!”

“Such sacrilege as this –the play not going to script, the clocktower’s heart coming to a halt– it can’t be allowed to continue much longer.”

“Demise awaits us all, and we will pay dearly for this transgression, ufufu…”

“It’s only a matter of time before our existences… before this world completely vanishes.”

 _Sacrilege_ …?! It couldn’t be!

The unfinished script. Was it because E-ki never wrote a conclusion to the screenplay? And the fact that the script was stolen in the first place, and thus was doomed from the start. And his punishment… Was it a curse brought about by _that person_ , through the Dream’s Conclusion, that trapped E-ki in the fake world of the play?

If his rash actions had angered _that person_ , the one E-ki said could have made new worlds come to life through fairytale-like stories…

If that was it… then what about the rest of the Occult Film Club? What if they were all held accountable as well, were trapped in the play with him, and made into a part of it…?

Realising that terrifying, unwanted truth, E-ki’s whole body started shaking like a leaf in the icy breeze.

“Well, LOOK, everyONE! Just CALM down, oKAY? This is JUST what the TRAITOR wants US to do, I’LL bet.”

“Calm YOURselves with some TEA for NOW! Little DREAMer, how aBOUT some MORE milk TEA?”

“Ah…” Milk tea for a troubled heart – how did E-ki not notice it before?! That flavour was exactly the same as the tea that A-no made during those rare occasions, and yet it was here… So they really were the same people, taken into this world!

Their memories had been taken away, and they were made part of the cast and set…!

* * *

“Did… I…?” It was E-ki who had done this to them all. He was the culprit who had profaned the play, and this was his punishment for using that person’s story to create a fake screenplay. To be trapped in this fictional world as the only one who knew the unwanted truth, dragging everyone else into the darkness, and being made to act out the play all alone.

There was a rumour that both he and that person believed and held fast to, a rumour involving the spirit of the traitorous Fox. It was said that those who betrayed the ones closest to them would…

(…What an interesting rumour.)

Indeed, that persistent rumour that made itself known during the season of summer’s end wasn’t just a childish lie, was it?

(To have a rumour made up by innocent children’s dreams turn into something as terrifyingly thrilling as this…)

Taken by the worst regret and self-loathing of his life, E-ki’s heartbeat violently hammered against his chest, and his hands shook.

(You really are…)

“I want to go back…”

To reality. To the ordinary, mundane, common world where everyone was just normal… E-ki soon found his vision growing blurry, and the hot, bitter tears started to fall. Everyone stared at him in bewilderment as he suddenly broke into a despairing wail.

“Little Dreamer, are you all right…?” The Lady quietly asked, concern overwriting all her usual stoicism. “Do you wish to return home that badly?”

“Don’t worry.” With a strained smile, the Maid whispered with the calmest and kindest voice she could bring herself to use. “You’ll be able to go home once the play ends and the night dawns, yes?”

So E-ki couldn’t go back because the play’s conclusion had disappeared, yet if the story could proceed, the Dreamer would be able to leave the theater and return to his home in Kokkuri Village.

But would he really go back if the screenplay ended properly?

To where? His “home” in the fake world, or his “home” in the world of reality?

If E-ki were lucky, perhaps “once the play ends, you can return” meant returning to reality?

If he could perform his role as _that person_ wanted it done… follow the original script, and get to the unknown conclusion…

* * *

“Don’t cry, little Dreamer.” The Director grasped E-ki’s shoulder and gave him a slight nod. “I’m certain that we’ll find the missing page and reach the ending.”

The Lord gently patted his head. That gentle touch… This was D-suke’s hand, without a doubt. Once again, E-ki saw a reflection from reality in the person of the play, and the sobs kept coming.

If he had really brought everyone into this demised fairytale…

Everyone was highly suspicious of each other, claiming one of them had “tainted the Playwright’s memory” and stolen away the screenplay’s resolution, its happy ending. But the truth was, it was this fake world that was tainted. This wasn’t the world they really belonged to.

“How about we put the traitor aside for now…” The Butler sighed, pushing aside a stray lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes. “We just have to continue the play and find the stolen page while we’re at it.”

“Okay! WE may not KNOW who STOLE it, but there’s onLY so MAny places to HIDE it!” Cheering, the Doll Twins threw their arms around each other and pulled each other into a tight hug. “It’s a BIIIG theaTER, but it HAS to be HERE someWHERE! Let’s BEGIN!”

Possibly spurred on by E-ki’s shameful tears, the tension in the room seemed to dissipate. Even the constantly-arguing Butler and Maid seemed to temporarily make peace, though they still kept up their guarded gazes against each other.

E-ki wiped away his tears and forced a practiced smile onto his lips.

“Even if one of us did steal the page… There’s no point in throwing our suspicions around without any proof to back it up.”

“Then, we’ll just have to look for the page while Act 2 and Act 3 plays out, huh.”

“It’s also important to stay aware, since the traitor is among us, ufufu~!”

“But what IF the traiTOR really ISN’T among US? AhaHAa...”

“YOU mean, SOMEone besides US is watching ALL this PLAY out…? EheHEe!”

“All the doors and windows are shut tight. We all helped lock them before the party, didn’t we?”

“Tch! Then someone here is lying right to our faces!”

“But doubting each other… it won’t get us anywhere right now. We should split up and search.”

Despite saying that, the Director shot a glance towards the Lord. Waiting for approval, to move on to the next Act of the script.

“Then… we’ll all split up and search the theater.” Visibly squaring his shoulders, the Lord finally let a genuine smile grace his thin, pale lips, gloomy eyes brightening with determination. “Time is short; even if we find the page, _if we have already come to the point when the final scene before the ending takes place_ , it’s all for naught.”

Upon the Lord’s orders, the Director reached for the Book of Demise and pulled out a top-down map of the theater hidden in the book’s spine, laying it out on the glass table. Everyone began to stake claims on where they would begin their search.

E-ki decided, he couldn’t just be sobbing there alone, either; he was the one who had dragged them all into this. As the only person there who knew something about the unwritten truth, he had to stay focused.

And he had to get them back to normal… and back to the familiar reality that they all belonged to…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But something troubled me, while I made sure everything went according to the improvised script.
> 
> If _that person_ was the one playing the part of the lead role, the Irregular Dreamer,
> 
> Then where was the _one from a year before_ and the _one from a year after_?
> 
> ...They had to be placed in the world removed from reality, right?
> 
> Somewhere in that Clockwork Theatre? But where?
> 
> Is it something I must help the lead role find out?
> 
> Is it that kind of story I must write?
> 
> ...I don't know.
> 
> I'm sorry, this is selfish of me, but _I need to know_ , so...
> 
> "With the distorted sound of a buzzer suddenly ringing out—"


	12. Re:Act 2.0: Child’s Game Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... since the main unit AUA is busy with school work and upcoming exams, he has delegated a few chapters of this fanfic to me, sub-unit Sui! I tried to copy AUA's writing style, but I'm not too sure if I hit the mark; hopefully it follows the overall plot-plan we came up with, otherwise... ( ; w ; )
> 
> And, at this point in time I have already prepared a buffer of chapters, so we can probably return to the monthly-release schedule, yayyy!

— **(BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!)** —

With the distorted sound of a buzzer suddenly ringing out, the television set, sitting unassumingly in the corner of the living room, switched on by itself.

* * *

“Ahaha… _ahahaha **HA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—**_ ”

The ugly sound of warped laughter. A dark room full of hair-raising, teeth-chattering static. Grinning wide, the unfamiliar image of a familiar golden-haired boy buzzed in and out on the television’s screen.

“GREETINGS, MY DEAR FRIENDS! THIS IS YOUR BELOVED PLAYWRIGHT SPEAKING. OR HAVE YOU ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME ALREADY…?”

Words resounded through the deathly-silent room, unable to be heard yet ringing painfully in their ears and silencing the rest of their thoughts.

“DUE TO A SINGLE _TRAITOR_ , A **‘FOX’** , THE EVERLASTING∞DEMISE GAME HAS BEGUN. IF YOU WISH TO RETURN TO **_‘REALITY’_** , PAY ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS, AND SEEK THE **_‘TRUE ENDING’_**.”

E-ki couldn’t believe his eyes, his ears, his mind. He couldn’t believe _anything_ , in that transient moment.

“TO REACH THE END OF THE DEMISED SCREENPLAY, THE FOX MUST BE KILLED. IF THE FOX CAN’T BE FOUND, EVERYONE ELSE WILL DIE. WHILE SEARCHING FOR THE FOX, MY SCRIPTS MUST BE PERFORMED.”

No…

“THE SCRIPTS WILL BE REVEALED THROUGH THE LETTERS THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE. YOU MUST COMPLETE THEM BEFORE THE FINAL SCENE OF ACT 3 BEGINS. IF THE SCRIPTS ARE SHOWN TO SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE DESIGNATED ACTORS, THEY WILL DIE. IN THE CASE THAT YOU IGNORE OR DEVIATE FROM THE SCRIPT…”

This wasn’t real. _This can’t be real._ **This shouldn’t be happening!**

“YOU. _WILL._ **DIE.** ”

Who was the traitor? Who was the Fox?!

“UNTIL THE FINAL SCENE OF ACT 3 SUCCESSFULLY PLAYS OUT, YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT ESCAPE. NOW, LET THIS NEVERENDING SCREENPLAY CONTINUE…”

* * *

(…)

“…What…?”

And just like that, with the sound of the Dreamer’s unbelieving voice floating listlessly through the deadly-silent room, that endless moment of held breaths and fear shattered like glass.

Everyone snapped around and turned to face the golden-eyed boy, all holding an expression of fear, suspicion, and something else, something so transparent and hidden deep within that E-ki could only see a faint, split-second trace of it in the dull light reflecting off their inanimate eyes, something that seemed almost like…

(regret?)

…before that too was snatched away by the rasping breaths he quickly realized were coming from his own dry throat, prompting him to swallow the saliva that had begun to pool on his tongue.

“What just happened? Wh- Who was that?!”

Doing nothing to chase away the tension of the heavy silence, the Lord shook his head, blue locks framing his face in shadow as his lips moved soundlessly, as if unable to speak the words caught in his throat. The Director, noticing his companion’s hesitance, steeled himself and whispered a name, one that struck a cold, desperate fear into the E-ki’s heart.

“Elise.”

(The Forgotten Playwright.)

(The Irregular Dreamer.)

(The name of the character whose role had been entrusted to _him_ , and him alone.)

Just then, the lonely sound of a child’s scream rang through the room, as distant as the clocktower’s absent heartbeats booming far above them, and the strange sensation seemed to melt away into thin air, the other inhabitants of the theater turning to each other and chattering away, the clamour of their capricious voices slowly bleeding away from E-ki’s ears as he slowly lost all connection with the world.

* * *

Nothing. No fear, no suspicion, none of the silence that had permeated the heavy air just a moment before remained, not even the faintest trace. The golden-eyed boy stared blankly at the open book in front of him, unable to comprehend the sudden change of atmosphere. It was just as if he had been imagining it the whole time. Almost like that transient, ephemeral moment…

(It never happened.)

Slowly, as if like a clockwork doll wound up by the key of fate, he moved with an unfamiliar familiarity, with only the dull, constant thud of his heartbeats keeping him company in the silence of his thoughts. The others’ voices seemed so far away, even as he moved closer to the circle they had formed, crowding around the theater’s map and eagerly picking which spots they would like to investigate. Their words went unheeded by the boy trapped in his dream-like trance, only nodding along blindly when they sent a glance his way, or pointed something out to him, or gave him a cheery smile.

Alone, he existed in that moment cut off from the others, cut off from time. Frantic whispers echoed in his ears, but the words dissolved into meaningless static before his brain had a chance to process them.

(…)

* * *

At last, after what seemed like an eternity of watching voiceless dolls act out a silent movie in front of him, E-ki’s sense of hearing finally trickled back into his numbed mind, along with a vague feeling of acknowledgement of the instructions they relayed to him during the few endless minutes when he was lost to the world.

“Now, I’ll repeat this one more time.” Raising his voice so that it could clearly be heard over the conglomerate of voices colouring the pale air, the Lord raised a hand, a gesture that quickly gained him the attention of all the others in the room. “Each of us will look through a section of this theater, as it would be much faster than all of us together in a group. Our goal is to find the traitor who stole our play’s conclusion, and restore the closure of the story to its rightful end. While we do that, we must also take care to carry out any of the Playwright’s scripts that we come across. And remember… Don’t. Show the instructions. To anybody else. Understand?”

“Right! Well, LEAve THE upPER north rooms TO me!” the Clockwork Doll cackled gleefully, throwing down a quick curtsey before scampering off to the western staircase, leaving a trail of echoing laughter in her wake.

“Then, Miss Porcelain Doll and I shall head to the upper east and west sections, respectively.” Crooning, the Butler extended a hand to the aforementioned Doll with a languid smile, eyes twinkling with mirth. The short-haired girl haughtily turned her nose up at the supposedly-kind gesture and, with an irritated huff, gave an indignant toss of the head before making her way upstairs, closely followed by the purple-eyed brunet as he walked out of the room with a sluggish gait, taking all the time in the world.

“Can’t trust him to do anything right.” The Maid sighed in annoyance, putting a hand to her hip as she sauntered over to the door, casting a wide grin over her shoulder with a wink. “Well, I’ll be sure to search the lower north area as thoroughly as I can, my Lord and Lady! Anything strange and I’ll report it to you on the double!”

As the others in the room watched her disappear from sight, the Director held a hand to his head, his face somehow managing to carry a mixture of distraught fear and exasperated fatigue. “…Mother, Father, please, be careful,” he called out without glancing back as he made his way to the hallway, his voice carrying the faintest hints of concern. “…And you too, Dreamer. Stay safe.” And then he was gone.

The Lady gave E-ki and the Lord a curt nod before walking out of the room, her elegant gown sashaying along to her confident steps. E-ki waved her a timid goodbye before turning to face the red-eyed D-suke imitation, raising his gaze to meet the other boy’s own.

* * *

“We… should probably start…”

“Right, right.” The Lord chuckled and held out a hand, a faint blush rising to his cheeks as E-ki hesitantly grabbed onto it. “We’ll head to the western reception room first, then work our way up to the kitchen. Is that okay with you?”

E-ki nodded, either not noticing the Lord’s apparent embarrassment at holding his hand, or choosing to keep quiet about it. They walked out of the living room, making sure to close the double wooden doors behind them, and carefully made their way to the reception room on the other side of the mansion, though E-ki had to exert himself a little in order to keep up with the Lord’s brisk steps. The Lord pushed the heavy door open, a loud creak echoing into the empty room as the weathered door swung on its hinges.

A few benches sat in a row off to one side of the room, while in another corner a number of wooden stools were piled on top of each other and arranged neatly. E-ki marvelled at the meticulous attention given to maintain the cleanliness of the area, but was jolted out of his thoughts when the Lord reached over to grab a single stool that lay sideways on the floor, righting it and staring at it in silence for a while.

“Um… is there something wrong…?”

“Well…” the cobalt-haired boy sighed, shaking his head. “We haven’t had an audience for a very long time already, so this room’s hardly ever used. I’m just wondering why this was lying on the floor, rather than being stacked with the others.”

“Maybe it… fell over? Or someone used it and didn’t bother putting it back properly…”

“No, no. That’s impossible. Even though they might not look the part, the Maid and the Butler are very thorough in their efforts to keep this place in order. If either of them saw even a single thing out of place, the one at fault would probably hear no end to it! But if somebody had sneaked into this room, then maybe…”

“Oh!” E-ki perked up at the explanation, the implication dawning on him. “So you’re saying that the one who stole the page might have hidden it in a place where nobody’s been to in a long time? Like here?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.” Smiling, the Lord nodded at E-ki’s words. “Shall we start?”

Determined, E-ki started to search the room, hoping against hope that they’d be able to find the missing page right away. As they looked in every nook and cranny, the dust that had collected in the long-unused room began to stir and float through the stale air, occasionally causing one of the two to cough or sneeze. But even though they gave it their all, they found nothing that would fit the description of a page torn out from a handwritten script. The Lord, just in case, even shoved around all the furniture so that they could check every last gap, all in vain.

* * *

The once-orderly reception area became a mess, and most of the benches and stools came to be assembled near the entrance of the room. E-ki noted the precarious arrangement of the haphazardly-stacked furniture; next time someone opened the door, the pile of things would probably topple over and block the entryway… But when he moved to try and put the things back in their original spots, the red-eyed boy stopped him.

“No, no time for that!” With a click of his tongue, the Lord chastised E-ki, who bowed his head in embarrassment. “A lot more places to search, no time to be cleaning things up.”

Not even taking a moment for a reply, they hurried to the nearby bedroom used by the Maid. E-ki tensed up a bit as he stepped into the room, decorated with warm shades of red. Even though it was just part of the script, he still felt like he was intruding in a place he shouldn’t be.

A few simple wall lamps here and there, a moderately-sized bed with soft pillows and a coverlet, a closet containing, humorously, nothing else but frilly maid dresses— and a magnificent display shelf that one could tell at a glance was finely-crafted to the smallest detail. E-ki marvelled at the sight, running his fingers along the polished wood for a moment before returning to the task at hand. They searched everywhere in the room with eyes as wide as they could go, but still found nothing.

Deciding that their exploration of the Maid’s bedroom was finished, the Lord and E-ki went to the dining room, which was definitely a place where the culprit could have stashed the page in. But the luxurious long table there held nothing but a lace tablecloth, and nothing showed up after they shifted the chairs and looked under the table.

The Lord searched through the cabinets, looking through each and every stack of plates and pile of utensils with such unnatural speed that, to E-ki, it felt like his motions had been carefully practiced over and over again in preparation of this moment. The golden-eyed boy watched, transfixed, as the Lord pulled out every bowl and traced its rim with his slender fingers as if toying with it, and putting it back… again and again, until every single item had been checked, and the Lord let out a tired sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a boring story so far...
> 
> A-ya sighed, drumming his fingers on his lap as he stared at the scene unfolding in front of him.
> 
> "Hey, can't you hear me?"
> 
> The lead role stood still in the middle of the room, the spotlight affixed to his position.
> 
> His golden eyes were blank and unfocused, and he seemed to be lost in another world.
> 
> "...Hmph."
> 
> Folding his arms across his chest, the Narrator let his lips curl into a sour scowl.
> 
> "The main character won't listen to me, and the other actors are all doing their own things..."
> 
> "What a boring story."
> 
> "...Well then, if it's so boring... why don't you add some _excitement_?"
> 
> A sudden burst of deafening static.
> 
> "...That's right, you ARE the Narrator after all... so why don't you make the story more _fun_?"
> 
> A-ya's scowl fell from his face as his red eyes widened.
> 
> "Nobody has to know it's you. If anything goes wrong, you can just _go back_."
> 
> "Think of it as an experiment... a way to pass the time while you look for the _real truth_."
> 
> "Come on... it's easy. Besides, it's your job to lead the main character to the _ending_ you desire, right?"
> 
> That's right... it's his role as the Narrator... to help the lead role find the perfect end... and...
> 
> "To the _answer_ you've been seeking, all this time."
> 
> "So, my dear Clockwork Narrator... what are you waiting for?"
> 
> "Just _reach out your hand_ , and..."


	13. Re:Act 2.1: The Secret-Dealer of District 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... after a certain incident with main unit AUA, it seems that I, sub-unit Sui, have been promoted to main unit for a while. Nothing major, just a little falling-out and a little accident. But you may see the writing style differ greatly this chapter and beyond, since this fanfic has been placed under my responsibility for the time being.
> 
> And, if you dear readers would be so kind as to leave a comment...? Just tell me if the writing style is too much of a jump from before, or if the story seems rushed, mmkay~?

They’d already searched most of their assigned rooms and still hadn’t found a clue. E-ki’s shoulders slumped a little as he watched the Lord become increasingly agitated. Either the Lord was much more prone to anger than he was… or it was literally in his character to always be an impatient, gloomy, and rigid gentleman. Either way, E-ki sensed an overwhelming aura of disappointment from him.

The real D-suke was big-hearted, mild, had a weakness for snacks and B-ka’s cute charm (but who didn’t?), and was always patient with the others. But he’d yet to see the Lord here fully calm down at all. His personality was a strange mixture of D-suke’s quiet, warm nature with the harshly stoic melancholy of the Heavenly Lord from the script.

Yet, E-ki still saw bits and pieces of his close friend shine through the cold exterior of the fake world’s actor, and that nostalgia allowed him to at least pretend that this stranger was merely a D-suke who had temporarily lost all his memories relating to E-ki.

(So close, yet so far…)

* * *

E-ki let out a quiet hum, amused at his own thoughts. It was certainly strange of him to think “nostalgically” of people who he’d seen just a few hours ago, but for some reason, that was the way he felt. Perhaps while searching for the lost page, he could obtain some clues by secretly observing these “actors of the stage play”. He didn’t find any particular person suspicious yet, but if the page thief was among them, he had to at least gather some clues, right?

Leaving the dining room, they then tried the kitchen. Before the door was even fully opened, a childish squeak of wonder managed to escape E-ki’s lips, to his embarrassment as he quickly slapped both hands over his mouth, the shade of his blush deepening to a light pink. Just one step into the room had brought him to a standstill, and his eyes were drawn to the many things that filled the cabinets and kitchen counters.

A tightly-packed arrangement of containers filled with all sorts of foods, bottles and bottles of colourful liquids with flowery labels and tags, a row of small glass jars containing exotic spices, tea leaves and other curios— all delicious-looking, certainly foreign, and definitely somewhat odd things he’d never set his sights upon before.

“Surprised? It’s my personal collection of gourmet treats from all around the world.” The red-eyed boy laughed, and E-ki noticed with a sense of ease at how the irritated tone in the Lord’s voice had been replaced by a soft, genuine amusement. Almost like he was having fun. “Some of them were bought by the Playwright during his travels and tours, but most of these ingredients were gifted to us by members of the audience who enjoyed our plays!”

He proceeded into the room with a spring in his step, E-ki following closely behind him. One wall was solely dedicated to a list of strange, unpronounceable things that seemed like they could have been the names of particular dishes and meals from all times, places, and cultures. Intrigued, he picked up a small golden knife lying on the nearby counter near the stove; it glinted under the dim lighting of the wall lamps, and E-ki swore he saw it stained with rust before fading back to its natural metallic sheen.

Curious, he tested the knife, pulling it across the tip of his pinky finger; no pain occurred, and the knife’s blade harmlessly slid off the fragile skin without leaving any mark. Placing the knife back in its original place, he then marvelled at a picture of a bottle containing a crimson-coloured liquid.

* * *

“Wow… that one has a really weird name…”

“Ah yes, the infamous Blood Grave. It’s a type of wine commonly served during parties and banquets in a former grand empire to the east, Beelzenia. There’s a secret behind its name, too… I’ve heard that drinking too much of it can make you look like an undead.”

“Undead? Like, a zombie? …That’s kind of scary, isn’t it?”

“The land that serves it has a variety of customs noticeably different from ours,” the taller boy started to explain, pulling out a chair and gesturing for E-ki to take a seat. “In particular, where the Playwright came from, that drink would be served to soldiers before they went into battle, in order to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. I’ve heard that it’s also been used for numerous assassination attempts, since the strong taste of the liquor would mask any trace of poison secretly mixed into it.”

“Huh… you sure do know a lot about these kinda things.”

“…It is written into my role, after all.”

Come to think of it, while the Lord and the real D-suke’s personalities could barely be called similar, both had a definite penchant for food. And C-na’s love of occult horror stories overlapped with the Hellish Lady’s love of the Playwright’s scripts. A tiny smile curled the edges of E-ki’s lips as he again thought, in a new light, how there were _just enough similarities_ between the characters of End of Elise and the schoolmates that he loved dearly to make him desperately believe that they were one and the same.

* * *

In reality, E-ki knew he had doomed the play from the very beginning by using a script that was _not written by his own hand_ , and was going to come clean to his fellow club members after they had finished filming the conclusion of Act 3… So as he silently gazed at the Lord searching through the kitchen’s wares, careful not to knock over or damage any of the containers bearing the exotic dishes, the fact that he’d essentially committed sacrilege through betrayal started to gnaw on the very core of his conscience, leaving him feeling immensely guilty.

“That reminds me… D-su— er, Mr. Lord, I know someone who likes eating all sorts of snacks too,” averting his eyes downwards, E-ki spoke up. “And he really liked being involved in the screenplays I wrote… but I lied to him about something. I lied to all of my friends, I kept something very important… a secret from them. A secret only I know about. I— I’m still sort of trying to work things out, but I don’t even know if it’s something I can fix on my own. And I… didn’t have a chance to tell them and apologize for it… I hope I can do both, soon…”

Why did he have to be taken away into this familiarly unfamiliar world? But no, that was all his fault as well. He can’t blame anyone else but himself for that.

“All deceptions will eventually give way to the truth, given time.” Slowing his movements, the Lord turned to face E-ki with an understanding look in his eyes. “It’s an unavoidable thing. If you worry that your friends may never learn the truth, then… act first, and tell them what they need to know before they hurt themselves in their ignorance. Surely your friends will understand and try to help you in any way they can. After all, that’s what friends are for, right?”

“…I suppose.”

“Do you trust your friends, little Dreamer?”

“Huh…?”

Trust his friends? Closing his eyes, E-ki flipped through the pages of his memories, recalling the plot of the script he had never wrote. These characters of the play were practically nothing but strangers, tied together only by their love of the Playwright and his legacy, yet they still treated each other as close companions and family. But E-ki’s friends could be none other than his fellow club members, whom he adored and admired. Of course he would put all his trust in them. He even founded the club in the first place so that they could bond over their common love of theatre and screenplay.

* * *

“Of course! That I promise!” Abruptly standing up from his chair, E-ki exclaimed loudly, as if affronted by the fact that the other boy even dared to ask him such a question. “I’d trust them with my life… Even if we move on in our ordinary lives, even if we were separated, even if they forget about me, I’ll always remember them!”

“Even if they move on, hm…? But people can change from who they used to be in even a small amount of time… If you were to meet under such circumstances, if one of you were to suddenly change in a drastic way, almost as if you were… replaced with a fake imitation that didn’t quite match the original. If the you of the future have many new things and thoughts that you keep from them, if you keep so many secrets, do you think you’d still recognize each other by then? Do you think you’d still trust each other then?”

The Lord, with an expression that E-ki couldn’t quite call happy or sad, gazed at a framed parchment which had surely once held a recipe passed down through generations, painstakingly rewritten numerous times so that the next receivers may receive its secrets. But the paper had faded to a dull yellow, and most of the listed ingredients had been crossed out, substituted for newer ones or simply left out due to personal taste.

Would one actually call that new creation “completely different” from the traditional, ancestral dish, and claim that it wasn’t the same one anymore? Even if a long time ago, that home-cooked food had been treated as a family’s heirloom, cooked with love and care, could one still think of its modernized counterpart as made by the same hands that wrote down the recipe a long time ago? What if replacing and altering the used ingredients made it have a different taste…?

E-ki reached for the wooden frame and lifted it to the side, making sure that the page wasn’t hidden behind it. But there was nothing there but dust.

* * *

E-ki took a look at each photo, recipe, and menu hung up on the wall. They were enshrined in gold-plated wooden frames, ominously staring down from up high. His eyes came upon a pedestal bearing an antique wine glass. Carved into it was a prominent picture of a split pomegranate and a sapling, the fruit scattering its seeds across the surface. The red colour of the decoration seemed to bleed into the very glass itself, making it look like the wine glass was perpetually brimming with red wine, like the illustration of Blood Grave he had seen just before… or blood.

“Interested? That’s my original body,” the Lord smiled, picking the glass up and holding its delicate body with a gentle hand. “My previous incarnation, Conchita’s Wine Glass. It’s said that the previous owner was a gourmand duchess who became famous for bringing variety into her domain’s palate, introducing various new foods and drinks to the populace. But there’s a secret passed down through generations of her surviving bloodline, from her one beloved child that she spared from her sin… that her gluttony started to overtake her soul, and she wound up craving the most deplorable and disgusting of meals, earning her the legendary name of Evil Food Eater Conchita.”

As if to prove his point, the Lord tilted the glass ever so slightly, and a drop of red liquid splashed onto the floorboards below. So the glass was indeed brimming with wine… or at least E-ki hoped it was _wine_.

“Evil Food Eater…?” E-ki mumbled, suddenly feeling that same strange pull he had towards the golden knife before; a frantic urgency, telling him to get his hands on the artefact. Why was he feeling that way…?

“Yes. She’s one of the Deadly Sinners of Evil. Her title came from the fact that she eventually descended into cannibalism, unable to satisfy herself with normal food anymore. Some say that her favourite phrase was “Eat up everything to the bone~!” while others claimed that her reason was “If I don’t finish everything on my plate, I’ll be punished…” And when she finished gorging herself on everything in her mansion, the only thing left that she could devour was her own…”

“U— uh…!” E-ki shuddered, deciding that a topic change was sorely needed. “You said, _one_ of…? Are there other Deadly Sinners?”

“…Yes. There are… seven of them, it’s said, usually paired along with the two forbidden fruits that unleashed them into the world, and the one saviour who will create a Utopia in order to defeat them.”

“So then, there are ten of them altogether…”

“Well, that’s what the Playwright wrote down in one of his more famous scripts, I believe.”

As E-ki reached for the glass in order to take a closer look, his hand bumped against the Lord’s own, causing the taller boy to drop the precious artefact. In that instant—

* * *

“Watch out!”

In the midst of the glass shards arcing through the air, a piece of paper fluttering in the nonexistent breeze…

“Huh…?”

E-ki caught a hold of it, ignoring the way the shattered glass left cuts on his fingers, and as he read the paper’s contents, his hands started to shake.

“Ah, no, that’s supposed to be a se—!”

The cobalt-haired boy’s face turned as pale as a ghost as he watched the realization of an ugly, unwanted truth dawn in E-ki’s eyes. Without warning, the golden-eyed boy grabbed a shard of glass and swung it wildly at the Lord’s neck, his expression unreadable and framed by shadow.

“       can’t  ! ”

* * *

Struggling to breathe, vainly grasping at the angry red gash at his neck but unable to stop the flow of blood from seeping through his fingers, in the Lord’s last moments before darkness came to stake its claim on him, all he saw was the tears falling from E-ki’s glassy golden eyes... and a shadowy figure raising the golden knife, glowing with a sickly red colour, above their head, ready to strike.

(Demise∞enD #101…)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “So close, yet so far…”
> 
> Scrunching his face up in a scowl, A-ya could do nothing but watch as the unfolding events took a turn for the worse.
> 
> Between the gaps in his own understanding of the situation and the lead role’s mysterious trance when he tried to influence his actions, there wasn’t much he could do to help nudge the golden-eyed boy towards the desired ending.
> 
> And, because of his own curiosity, the Playwright appeared, and now D-suke—!
> 
> Bitter resentment washed over him, rising up from the pits of his stomach. A maddened, roiling laughter echoed ceaselessly around the dark room that kept him trapped in the boundary between the real and the fake. The shadows around him and the faint light emitted from the flickering screen snapped and nipped at his fingers and eyes, and for a breathless second, A-ya swore he felt the metallic texture of a knife’s handle materialize in his grasp.
> 
> If the _lead role_ were to _disappear_ , then the play would come to a halt, and they’d all be forced back into _reality_ , right…?
> 
> …No, no, ignore those whispers. They’re just desperate lies. A dangerous kind of noiseless static.
> 
> He still had a chance to salvage this story, without resorting to _that_.
> 
> Just… go back a few moments, to that fragment of time.
> 
> Create a distraction. Stop the glass from being shattered.
> 
> Biting his lip, A-ya reached for the television in front of him, not even flinching as the solid screen turned into hazy smoke and hungrily swallowed up his trembling fingers.
> 
> Even if just for a second, if he could transport himself into that ephemeral world…


	14. Re:Write 2.1: Carbonated Retro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whoooo boy, sorry bout the whole main unit sub unit fiasco!! @n@;; so im back as the main writer of this thing! but there's a few changes to the plot here and there, and something something writing style differences, but updates should go back to regular twice-monthly for now~ and yes, im crossovering this thing with ANOTHER suzumu-related series (in fact, two of them!) so new characters will show up soon!

As E-ki reached for the glass in order to take a closer look—

“Watch out!”

The Lord standing in front of him forcefully pulled at his outstretched hand, and a loud clatter resounded behind him. E-ki looked back in surprise.

“Huh…?”

The golden knife lay on the floor, right where he had been standing just seconds before. He slowly moved his gaze back towards the wine glass in the Lord’s other hand.

“Ah…”

* * *

There, he saw a piece of paper peeking out from the glass’s rim. When the Lord pulled him away from the falling knife, the movement must have jolted the paper out of its hiding place in the red-stained glass.

“That was close…” sighing in relief, the Lord released his grip on E-ki’s hand, and only then did E-ki notice how cold and clammy the other boy’s skin had become. “It seems like something must have pushed the knife to the edge of that overhead cabinet. I can’t imagine what or how though… In any case, are you hurt?”

“Ah, no… I’m fine. But anyway, there’s a letter stuck in the glass…”

“…So it seems. Maybe it’s a script?”

The Lord pulled out the paper from the glass, carefully unfolding it, and began to read its contents. His eyebrows furrowed in worry and displeasure. No doubt it was one of the Playwright’s letters, and that he had to perform some kind of scene or act.

As the shock and adrenaline began to wear off, E-ki slumped to the floor, cradling his head in his hands. If the timing had just been a little off, things could have gone very badly. The glass, the script, the knife… imagining it falling from at least a meter’s height and plunging into him made E-ki shudder.

As the seconds ticked on, maddeningly slow, E-ki turned his attention from the Lord busily reading the letter’s instructions to the well-polished wooden floor. That could’ve been the most dangerous experience in his life; his heart was still pounding wildly against the walls of his ribcage… He had to calm down, get a hold of himself.

As E-ki brushed his fingers across the floorboards, he felt something. What was that? Lowering his gaze even further, he noticed a scratch on the floor that had probably been made by the blade.

“Oh no…”

Even if it was inside a movie, it still pained his heart that such a beautiful and magnificent theatre had been damaged. E-ki bent over slightly, inspecting the deepness of the cut.

* * *

“…! Blood?!”

When he knelt to check the scratch on the floor again, he noticed something red that stained it. Looking carefully around, E-ki saw several other such cuts. He didn’t see the knife fall; was it possible that the blade hit the floor and scratch it once, then bounce off and scratch somewhere else…? No, no. Peering closely and straining his eyes, he noted how all the scattered scratches looked the same. A cut from a first impact and a cut after bouncing off couldn’t possibly be the same size. That meant that those other scratches couldn’t have been made just now.

And what was that red stain in one of them? E-ki scratched at the cut with his fingernail, feeling a chill permeate his entire body. Maybe it really was someone’s blood. It was completely dried by now, so he had no idea what could have caused it or when. Maybe someone else had that same knife fall down on them from above, just like he did…?

E-ki timidly raised his gaze up again, assuring himself of the Lord’s presence. The red-eyed boy, though having put the wine glass back on its pedestal, was still reading the piece of paper with an unamused look. E-ki heard an annoyed groan; the Lord finally tore his gaze away from the letter in his hand, turning to face E-ki with a stern expression.

“Perform such a dangerous scene… I’ll handle it by myself. Would you go help out the Lady? The rooms she’s assigned to are rather large and cluttered with this and that, so I think she could use some aid. Nobody’s come to call us yet, so I don’t think anyone’s found the missing page. We have to hurry… before the time of Act 3 comes around.”

“Time…?” E-ki parroted, knitting his eyebrows in confusion. He’d heard the Playwright use a similar phrase earlier, when everyone was assembled in the living room. “I thought time had stopped in this place, because of the clocktower’s heart…?”

“Yes, time doesn’t move in this place, but we’re not exempt from its rules. As soon as it becomes three minutes past midnight in the audience’s world, our time to perform will have run out.” The Lord closed his eyes, focusing on the unseen tick of a clock’s second hand. “And… we only have two thirds of it left.”

His eyes fluttered open, accompanied by the return of his previous strict expression, tinged with a hint of grief.

“Um, this “three minutes past midnight” thing… how do you know what time it is now?” E-ki asked, nervously scratching at his cheek. “Is there a clock anywhere?”

“The only way to measure time in this place is through the clocktower’s heartbeat, and it’s stopped for the moment.”

“Well then, how…?”

“We actors have a sense of the script in our bodies. If you want to know, just ask your heart.”

* * *

He imitated what the Lord just did, closing his eyes and focusing. Then, oddly enough, E-ki could feel how much time was left in the screenplay, a sense of its progression… Indeed, there was no denying it now. He really had become part of the script. As E-ki finally let that truth sink into him, the dread of being an actor started to course through his veins.

If the stolen page was never found, and time ran out…

Would this fake world of the play, the actors performing in it, and even him who was brought there to become the lead role… would everything just disappear into nonexistence…?

* * *

“Ah, and before I forget!”

Slapping a hand against his forehead, the Lord gave a laugh that could only be described as mischievous and mocking. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and the stoically serious expression he wore immediately melted into one of capricious amusement.

Motioning E-ki to come closer, he leaned down and whispered something into the shorter boy’s ear.

“…Well, no time like the present! Once we’re all done, we’ll meet up at the study, alright? Now, off you go, Dreamer!”

Leaving the Lord to perform his task on his own, E-ki exited the room and went across the main hallway in front of the stage, keeping his gaze on the floor. The red-eyed boy had told him that the living room and the Butler’s quarters had the most things in them, so he told E-ki to help the Lady search through those areas.

And, while looking for the missing page, there were tasks that only he could do… To find a way to return to the world of reality, and investigate the mysteries of this fake world of the screenplay. At the moment, he didn’t know whether acquiring the stolen page and following the script to reach the play-movie’s finale would truly bring them back to the real world, but…

Everyone else seemed to be more concerned of their imitation world ceasing to exist more than anything else. Would irrevocably damaging the script truly lead to that conclusion? But, what if, by some chance, this world’s disappearance would automatically send them back to reality…? Then, if that were the case, then sorry, but his only choice would have to be destroying this world as quickly as possible to bring back the real actors.

Because only E-ki was the one who retained his memories of the real world.

* * *

He also had to mull over the culprit who stole the page in the first place. Why would any of them do such a thing? Was it as the Director said, that the last scene before the film’s conclusion was an unwanted one, a scene which they absolutely didn’t want to act out? But even then, could the actors of the Clockwork Theater even think of “not wanting to act” in this play world governed by the script? If they could only act as their characters were written, then wouldn’t it be impossible for one of them to tear out a page from the handwritten script?

But… potentially, the rules imposed by the script weren’t that strongly upheld. What if it were like real life, and the story was only “enforced” as much as the stage director and playwright could manage…? It could be possible, in such an unnaturally realistic screenplay as this. People from reality had simply been taken into a fictional world and were made into the cast and set.

Reality has “scenes” which can’t be omitted, yet E-ki’s real body and mind had been directly transplanted into this fake world… Which meant that scenes like him just walking around, going to wash his hands, ignoring other people’s conversations, ordinary, everyday things that would absolutely be omitted in a normal play… here, they would still take place.

After all, human beings have a variety of things they don’t like and don’t want to do, right? And there are quite a few actors, _that person_ immediately coming to mind, who could be… to be blunt, selfishly fickle. If having to follow the script down to the letter didn’t mean your body moving on its own, saying lines word for word out of an absolute compulsion, then the ones existing in this world must have been doing it because of a raison d’etre— out of a sense of duty to themselves and their precious world of the play.

So, if they could move of their own free will, they would in fact be capable of stealing the page. After all, weren’t they just arguing with and doubting each other over who committed the crime? Yet… wouldn’t that mean the traitor not only wanted to erase this world, but also themselves? Or maybe… the destruction of this world wasn’t what they aimed for. Maybe, even if the play didn’t reach the correct conclusion, nothing would actually disappear, and everything that was said to E-ki was merely a lie…

* * *

His thoughts swirled around, muddled and unclear; all that E-ki knew was that he knew absolutely nothing for certain. He had too little information to go on. Ah… if only there was A-no with her sharp intellect, C-na proficient at logical reasoning regardless of her outrageous thoughts, sensible D-suke with plenty of experience, B-ka with his kind advice that always hit the mark, keen-eyed 0-chan who saw all, or 1-kun with his one-of-a-kind intuition that always brought success.

How reassuring it would be if he could talk with them… E-ki knew he needed to stay strong and focused so that he could save them, yet instantly, he was overcome with a sense of unbearable loneliness, and as always, found himself dependent on them.

“Why did this have to happen? Why did…”

…they get trapped in this fake world? It was his fault, wasn’t it? For the act of betrayal against that person, and for committing sacrilege by using an unfinished script… E-ki gripped the cellphone in his pocket, a phone number rising to the top of his thoughts.

Ah… he hadn’t called _that person_ in a long time, hadn’t he? Even after they got separated, E-ki didn’t…

* * *

“Why…? Well, isn’t it because the page was stolen?”

He turned around mid-step in surprise and found the Hellish Lady standing right behind him. When in the world had she…?

“Ah, hold on! You there! Stop!”

“Stop…? W- why— aaarghhh!!!”

“Oof!!”

* * *

The Lady grabbed his sleeve and forcefully pulled E-ki back, causing him to land on his butt. Counting this morning, that was the second time today. As E-ki rubbed at his sore back, insults rained down upon him from above.

“Ahem! Couldn’t you be a bit more careful?! What were you even looking at?!” The Lady admonished, holding a hand to her hip, the monocle perched on the bridge of her nose shining under the faint moonlight as she tossed her head in indignation. “…You were about to fall down the stairs before I grabbed you! That could’ve been fatal, you know?!”

“Eheh…”

“This isn’t a laughing matter, young man! And… you shouldn’t be so frightened by me! How overdramatic! I was just answering your question! Don’t blame me for your own clumsiness!”

E-ki really hadn’t expected someone to be nearby; from the Lady’s point of view, she probably just happened to be passing by and suddenly heard him ask a question. He must have accidentally started thinking out loud; E-ki was just slowly walking by the main stage, deep in thought, but apparently he’d made to the clocktower’s entrance at the stage’s back wall without noticing. Even in a play, he’d done it again.

It was a bad habit of E-ki’s to be so deeply focused on his wandering thoughts that he went into his own world, and lost sight of everything else. He just kept walking, keeping his eyes trained on the floor, looking at nothing at particular, and subconsciously pushed open the heavy double doors and nearly tumbled down the stairs. E-ki gazed down at the steps— short and steep. Certainly, if he had tripped, he would have fallen all the way to the bottom.

He was truly lucky that the Lady was standing nearby; if not, he’d be…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A-ya let out a sigh, his breath coming out cold and syrupy as it tickled his throat and rolled off his tongue. The metal weight of the golden knife still didn’t disappear from where it lay wrapped in his shaking fingers, however, and the red-eyed boy sent an uneasy glance down towards his side, where he knew his clenched fist was trembling.
> 
> Instead of what he was expecting to see, a faded grey piece of paper fluttered in the non-existent breeze, crumpled slightly by the pressure of his balled fist.
> 
> Bringing his hand up to his face, he slowly uncurled his tense fingers and smoothed out the paper. Rather, it wasn’t a paper, but a photograph, dulled and turned monochrome by the hands of time.
> 
> And fire.
> 
> He blinked his eyes, once, twice, thrice, just to make sure. Scorch marks littered the edges, and the photo felt like it would fall apart in his hands if he so much as looked at it the wrong way; that was how fragile it seemed.
> 
> And the subject of the photo itself was…
> 
> Three young children, smiling against the backdrop of a large, messy fingerprint painting.
> 
> A-ya started as he recognized two of the three; E-ki and E-noru, no doubt. Their golden hair and golden eyes were unmistakable, even at that early age. And the two hairclips they used to pin their fringe back, and the slightly-longer length of hair that E-noru had compared to E-ki, which was tied up neatly into a little ponytail.
> 
> But who in the world was the _third_ , whose face had been burnt away, leaving nothing but charred ashes?


	15. Re:Act 2.2: Fighting Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> haha two updates at once!!! haha

Well, he’d pretty much suffer an ironic death; the same way the Dream of Everland had fallen to his demise.

For an instant, E-ki remembered the eerie dream he had this morning, of a fire, people screaming, and a golden key that glinted coldly under the spotlight’s shine. Shivering, he glanced sideways at the Lady; she was still muttering complaints under her breath.

His question… Obviously, he hadn’t been asking the Lady specifically, but in E-ki’s mind, her reply completely missed the mark. “Reality” for her and him was different, and the very thought of their world being the fake one compared to the real world where he came from was something that the imitated actors couldn’t possibly hope to understand. So it was all up to him.

E-ki didn’t have much confidence, but just like when musing over the fictional world while reading a novel, he had to consider every idea he thought of as a possibility, and find the single thread of truth to follow amidst the web of lies. Still…

* * *

“Maybe my imagination is going wild, and I’m just having a really weird dream…? That always happens,” he mused, putting a finger to his lips in thought, “Or maybe I’m already dead, and this is some crazy afterlife thing… no, that’s too much of a stretch, A-no would definitely hit me if she heard that. But it’s…”

“Ehh?!”

His half-monologue thoughts were interrupted by a hysteric shout from the Lady. She stared at him with that horror-struck face, and her monocle seemed to reflect and amplify the fear in her eyes, like she’d seen a monster or a ghost… or a demon.

“Huh… Uh— um…? Did I say something wrong?”

“Th- this isn’t the afterlife! What are you saying?!” She all but screamed, covering her mouth with a shaking hand. “Wrong or not, please don’t say such scary things! U- understand?!”

The Lady’s forceful shout made E-ki take a step back on impulse.

“Ah, I- I’m sorry…!” He held his hands up in surprise, forcing an apologetic grin. “I was just daydreaming a little… I didn’t really mean anything like that. Did I upset you…?”

“Eh… I- I see. I- it’s nothing,” the Lady’s gaze timidly wavered side to side, her words seeming to be caught in her throat.

Ah… this was a habit of C-na’s when she was deeply worried; E-ki had seen it only once before. The Lady’s current behaviour reminded him of C-na’s flustered face when she forgot about an important homework assignment, and his heart ached again.

“I just, ah… thought I saw something… shining behind you. It scared me a little, but maybe it’s just my imagination…”

E-ki turned around and saw a large portrait hanging on the far side of the clocktower’s stone walls, but nothing else. Was it one of the things the Lord claimed haunted the theatre? Surely not… he carefully inspected his surroundings and found nothing of importance. Maybe the Lady thought the portrait was a ghost… he swivelled his gaze upwards and gazed at the subject of the painting; what he saw made his blood run cold.

* * *

“A- ahhh… That portrait…”

A pair of young children, one wearing a fox-like mask; both had golden hair, and posed with slightly-lowered heads, holding each other’s hands. The one without a mask had a childish grin on his shadow-framed face.

“Hm… the Lord told me it’s been here since he inherited the theatre from the Playwright.” The Lady tittered, tilting her head slightly. “I think he called it a portrait of “the Alice of Neverland”? What a curious name for a picture with two people in it…”

The Alice of Neverland— was this the main character of Alice in Everland, the traitorous little Dream?! E-ki recalled that _that person_ had only illustrated a few pictures for the novel outline, and among them was a depiction of the main character, tumbling down the stairs at the climax of the story.They had shared jokes before, about how the selfishly antagonistic protagonist looked so similar to E-ki.

If the one without a mask was really that same Alice, was the other one the Playwright? No, he remembered how the others had been shocked at the appearance of the Playwright on the television screen, and that person didn’t wear a mask. He’d been so focused on this fake world and the actors losing their memories that he forgot all about the original script.

The Forgotten Playwright who lived with everything about him kept secret, and passed away still shrouded in mystery. If having to perform his scripts while searching for the stolen page was punishment for forgetting their duty to him, did they have to grant the wish he had for this play? Surely what he wanted was for them to act out his reality just as he created it, and complete his perfect story… In that case, then no doubt he existed in this world somewhere.

A mastermind watching over them, even as they spoke.

But was the Playwright, whose character didn’t play an active role in the play, connected to a real person from the world of reality?

Or was it simply _that person_ angered over the fact that E-ki stole the idea for the play’s story in the first place? Just before they were separated for the second time, when that person found out about his crime, E-ki clearly saw the hurt and disappointment reflected in his own golden eyes. Maybe that person was somehow behind the existence of this imitation world…

And if that was it, then perhaps he had to figure out a way to apologize to the mastermind and carry out the act of penance tasked to him before that person could be satisfied.

* * *

So far, E-ki knew only a few things for certain. Because of the missing page, the play’s natural progression was halted, but the time allocated for the performance of this play still ticked on. And there had to be a mastermind—  a person who sealed them in this world for reasons unknown to any of them.

“Sorry to disturb your train of thought, but… the Lord sent you to aid me in my part of the search, right?”

“…Ah, yeah. Please… lead the way.”

The Lady looked E-ki over once again with narrowed eyes, but said nothing else as she walked off towards the living room with a brisk step, without waiting to see if he followed along.

With a bit of effort, E-ki pushed the clocktower’s heavy wooden door close, wincing at the loud creak it emitted as it swung on its rusty hinges. Brushing the dust off his hands, he turned and saw the Derisive Maid coming out of one of the green rooms behind the stage. He still wasn’t used to her unpleasant nature instead of the usual straight-up violence, but under all the differences, he still could see the reflection of A-no in the Maid.

Surely, he was only scared because of the circumstances, E-ki quietly told himself as he approached the scowling servant.

Suddenly, the redhead lunged at him with a closed fist, and he screamed. E-ki reflexively backed away from her, but for a split second, he saw something resembling the glimmer of tears faintly sparkling in her blue eyes.

“Whaddya think you’re trynna do, hah?! Sneak up on me?! Y- ya perv!”

* * *

That informal way of speaking had always been a habit of A-no’s, even towards seniors and elders, but to be honest, hearing it exclaimed in such a bitter tone from the Maid before him was scary. A-no would often call E-ki out on his forgetfulness and easygoing attitude during times of seriousness and this and that and whatnot… a twisted kind of caring, in a way.

Her way of showing affection was certainly lacking in gentleness, but thinking of it again as E-ki stared at the seething girl in front of him, he could see the clear difference between A-no’s “tough love” and the Maid’s outright acidity.

“Err… I guess I was just wondering if you’ve finished searching this place.”

“I’m almost done with it! Didn’t find anything! So borin'!”

“O- oh…”

“Hey, what were ya doin in front of the clocktower, huh?! That place’s off limits to the likes of you!”

“Eh? I was… I was just—“

“Were you trynna break in and make things worse for us?! Why you little—!”

“H- hey, wait, um… I was asked to help people who hadn’t finished searching yet, and I just got a little sidetracked…”

“Whaaa…? That’s stupid! You’re stupid!”

“Sorry… I just can’t help it…”

“…Can’t ya really…? Or are you just makin’ up excuses to cover yourself?”

The Maid forcibly interrogated him, but he had to get away. There was no time for this; time was still slowly progressing even as they spoke. The Lord said earlier that even if the play was stopped, the performance time would still count down to zero.

E-ki turned his gaze upwards, blankly staring at the clocktower looming high above. In Act 1 of the unwritten script, the clocktower’s heart was stopped because of the Dreamer’s unprecedented accident, but the Director and the Doll Twins stepped in to make sure the story continued as expected. But this clocktower… it was stopped a little bit after midnight.

Three minutes after midnight, when the time of the play would have come to an end.

* * *

“Come to think of it… I wonder if there’s any way to make the heart start beating again…”

“Eh?”

E-ki muttered an idea that surfaced in his mind, and the Maid looked at him in surprise.

“Like the mechanism inside it, you know. Maybe, if I could manually replace whatever powered the clocktower… I wonder if it would return the scenes of the play to normal, too?”

“…You can’t do that. You shouldn’t force it.”

The tone of the usually-cross girl’s voice suddenly became an unsettling monotone. E-ki was sure that the cranky Maid would reply “Whatever makes my job easier!” without a second thought…

“But… can I at least go upstairs to check on it…?”

He went to reopen the wooden doors of the clocktower’s entrance, but the Maid uncharacteristically reached out to pull his arm back with gentle hands.

“No… if you do that, bad things will happen…”

“B- bad things…?”

“…”

“Hey, is there something special about the clocktower’s top room? Some kind of secret…?”

“Someone will die.”

“…W- wh- what?!”

* * *

Someone will die…? What in the world did she mean by that? If E-ki reached the top room of the clocktower, would something bad happen? …Would a scene take place where someone died? He stared the Maid in the eyes, trying to incite her to say more, but she only stared back at him with firm resolution. She wouldn’t answer him, and wouldn’t let him go up the spiral stairs. Not over her dead body… so her eyes seemed to say.

A thought crossed E-ki’s mind. She and the other theatre inhabitants often congregated or passed through the main stage, in front of the clocktower’s entrance; was it because they were guarding the top room? And if going to the top room would really cause someone’s death, were they trying to prevent somebody from dying by protecting the entrance?

He slowly tore himself away from the Maid’s glare, and instead turned toward the double doors that barred the entryway. The golden door handles glinted from the light of the moon shining through the theater’s high glass ceiling. Upon closer inspection, E-ki noticed a keyhole next to the handle.

The doors weren’t locked before, though if they ever were in consequent scenes, E-ki supposed there was a special key that could unlock it. However, he recalled that only one key featured prominently in the plot. And if he remembered correctly, even though he had never seen it in person before, that key was supposed to have the same defining characteristic as Alice in Neverland’s prop key…

“Don’t you dare…”

The Maid’s low, desperate, wavering voice boomed ominously against the ceiling of the stagehall. The glimmer in her eyes was so strong, and carried such despair, that E-ki shivered and nodded his head. Satisfied with that, the Maid raised her head back up to meet his eyes, and twisted her face back into the now-familiar scowl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gazing again at the photo in his hands, A-ya let out a breathless chuckle. Perhaps this was the Playwright’s way of toying with him, by rewarding the Narrator’s every correct decision with a little hint as to how to solve this damned mystery.
> 
> Something burned deep within him, bubbling up in rivulets that flooded his throat and spilled over his tongue; the feeling of amusement, maybe.
> 
> Or, perhaps, even satisfaction.
> 
> The chuckle deepened into a long, low laughter, his fingers moving to entangle themselves in his hair as his smile curled up wickedly at the edges. The photograph, now released from his trembling grasp, was picked up by a nonexistent breeze and carried away into the unknown, surrounded by the endless din of now-familiar static.
> 
> But throughout it all, his red eyes remained wide open, glaring at that unknown.
> 
> Yes, this would do nicely.
> 
> An endlessly repeating game, played within an endlessly repeating world with an endlessly repeating story.
> 
> Oh, how A-ya had longed for something like this through the season of summer’s end—
> 
> If only to stave off the boredom of the mundane, endlessly repeating days…!


	16. Re:Write 2.2: Nostalgic Junk Food

As soon as the Maid disappeared around the corner, heading towards the kitchen, and the sound of her heavy footsteps faded away, E-ki pushed open the door to the living room, to the northeast of the stage. Nobody was inside; only the incessant buzzing of the broken television’s static echoed through the otherwise silent room.

On the ground floor, the Lord took it upon himself to search the west side of the theatre; the kitchen, the washing room, the dining room, the Maid’s bedroom, and the first reception room. The Lady was assigned to the east side; the living room, the second reception room, and the Butler’s bedroom. Lastly, the Maid handled the middle area; the main stage, the clocktower’s entrance, and the two green rooms on each side of the stage.

E-ki supposed that the Lady had already finished her part of the job without him; he drooped a little in shame when he realized that he spent all that time wandering the main hall, when he was supposed to aid her in the search for the missing page. He opened up the door to the second reception room and looked all around, just in case, but there was nobody there either.

Retracing his steps, he soon found himself staring down the clocktower’s heavy wooden doors once more, but this time he quickly turned away from it, willing himself to ignore the mystery of the top room from reeling him into an undesirable situation. As he pulled his gaze away, E-ki caught sight of the dining room’s doors, slightly ajar.

When he approached and peeked inside, he overheard the Lady and the Maid having a seemingly-serious discussion in the connected room, the kitchen. He crept into the dining room and leaned against the kitchen door, waiting for the right time to intervene.

* * *

“Well then, what happened next? Did they manage to survive…?”

“Survival is subjective. If you were doomed to repeat the same days over and over again, moving ever closer to the date of your demise yet being sent back to the very beginning, right when it was about to end, would you call that survival?”

“Yikes…!”

“…So, everyone being in one place… in other words, everyone agreeing to gamble their lives in such a dangerous game in the first place, that’s what gets things going. You’re made to think that everyone is a culprit, and anyone could have done it… yes, it should be only one person, but you’re made to think it’s all of them… impossible… establish a motive…”

What were they talking about? Motive…? The two girls moved further away, making it hard to hear, but from what E-ki could make out…

Could they have hypothesized who the page thief was?

“Well… I don’t know if I reaaally understand all that, but I think I get the gist of it. Still, I’m gettin’ kinda hungry. Could we take a break and eat some snacks? I’d prefer some of the heavy stuff, but the Lord would get super-mad with me if I touched any of his prized foods!”

“Oh my, my… but you just had dinner some time ago, dear…”

The Maid requested a break, and while the Lady sounded reluctant, E-ki somehow knew that she too was craving for sweet things to eat. The redhead opened a cupboard and took out a basket packed with brioche from within. The mood eased up a little… Should he speak up now? Or…

“So… the tea was poisoned, was it?”

* * *

Poisoned…?! E-ki’s hand came to a stop a hair’s breadth away from the doorknob.

“Since there’s so many people during the celebration party, it’s easy to sneak in poison.”

“I guess… but wouldn’t it be bad if the wrong person was accidentally poisoned?”

“Well… the culprit’s aim must… at least…”

Alas, he couldn’t catch anything past that. Maybe it was the hardwood walls and floors of the kitchen, absorbing most of the sound without giving it a chance to echo. He just had to get a little bit closer. But if E-ki wasn’t careful, he could be found out…

As he hesitated, the Maid retrieved two saucers from the cupboards, placing a single golden-brown brioche bun on each porcelain plate. With a quiet gasp, E-ki silently retreated back out to the hallway. Then, as he predicted, the Lady and Maid moved from the kitchen to the dining room and sat at one end of the long table.

The dining room’s doors were just a little bit open, but they didn’t seem to notice him. E-ki wanted to keep hiding and listen to the rest of their conversation. The Maid slathered the two dessert buns with a generous helping of cream.

“…Oh my, my, no milk tea to go along with it, this time?”

“Sorry… I thought that, maybe, you might be getting a little bit tired of the same thing, over and over again. Besides, milady, you don’t actually like milk tea that much, do you…?”

“…I suppose you have a point.”

What was all this about? The Lady drank so much milk tea that the Maid thought she’d be tired of it… but was that actually a part of her character? Her liking desserts of every kind, having a slight junk food addiction, that was one thing E-ki remembered for certain, from what he recalled of the _other_ script. But liking tea, especially milk tea, he was a little less sure about that…

“Incidentally, going along with that… who would the traitor be?”

Traitor? So they must have been discussing about the person who took the page.

“In this case, it’s the one who looks most suspicious at a glance.”

“…Why’s that? Ain’t the most suspicious person the one you’d suspect first?”

“That’s what they want you to think. First, they give you the impression that, since everyone was going through the same thing, in all likeliness anybody could have done it. Then, as everyone finds a shocking piece of evidence, like an old diary perhaps, they find the deceased’s closest friends the most suspicious. But at the same time, they have to accept the fact that there were many chances for people other than that group to have done it.”

The Lady leaned her head on one hand, stabbing a spoon into the brioche. The browned surface of the bread broke easily under the pressure, and opened up to reveal the fluffy insides of the baked good. For some reason, E-ki shivered at the sight; it was like watching a person get stabbed.

“Next thing you know, a seemingly undeniable truth comes forth that pins the blame on one of the victims’ sibling. But a daring protagonist will claim that the evidence was planted at the crime scene; someone wanted to frame that person!”

“Woah, I see!” The Maid exclaimed, enraptured by the Lady’s words. “And?”

“Actually, then comes the incredible twist that it wasn’t _poison_ that was put in the tea.”

“Wha— whaaaaat?! No way, that’s much too sudden! Is the truth hidden somewhere completely unrelated?!”

“Yes, exactly right… the truth had hidden itself somewhere else entirely. For such a thing to happen… that’s the crowning jewel of horror stories! Everybody was so certain about the whole poison thing, but it was all so wrong. Right before they agreed to play the game… everyone had tea in the old school’s abandoned music room, see? The traitor used something else entirely… a cursed item; the Marlon Spoon. A sinful poison that affects not the body, but the mind. And the curse was planned to unleash its effects right as they finished playing the game.”

* * *

Digging out a fairly large bite of the dessert bun, the Lady devoured it all in one chomp, licking her lips as she savoured the sweet bread. The Maid waited patiently by her side, absently twirling the spoon held in her hand.

“But, the traitor didn’t take into account that their own psyche would be fractured by the curse! The sin of greed… instead of only wanting their superficial friendship, the traitor began to desire much, much more than that! All their love… all their attention, everything! Not to mention, the victims haven’t been in good condition as of late… they were already bickering and fighting amongst themselves, so the bonds between them had already began to shatter. Thus, a bit of jealousy and envy wouldn’t make people notice any difference. Only when the curse had started to take its toll on their minds…”

“Which was about half a week after they played the game.” Snapping her fingers, the Maid’s eyes lit up as she finally understood what the Lady was getting at. “Then, there’s only one person who could’ve done it… the traitor was…”

“Exactly~!” The Lady hummed her approval, her lips twisted into a wide grin. “So you get it, now?”

“Yeah.”

“But my dear, the case doesn’t end quite yet!”

“Eh…?”

“Why do you think the victims were in such unfavourable conditions to begin with?”

“…You’re saying that…?!”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you!  It was no mere jealousy that affected their supposedly undying friendship rooted in trust! No, the traitor served them tea and dessert made with that same cursed spoon every time they met after school.”

With a triumphant laugh, the Lady sprang from her seat, pointing at the Maid whose eyes widened in shock.

“By carefully adjusting how long the spoon came in contact with the tea, the symptoms could be freely adjusted as well! The curse was finely tuned to make them feel only slightly irritated by each other every time. Leaving no trace, they never suspected that it was used to poison their thoughts.”

“That’s scary…”

“For that occasion alone… the lonely child alchemized the ultimate royal milk tea, and made them drink it every time they gathered for their club meeting.  Making excuses to give it to them was, in fact, the most difficult part. The victims preferred to discuss rumours and occult tales, and were obsessed with it. But as they were repeatedly given that first-class tea, they changed. Starting off as true friends, they grew to hate each other, and fought each other over the traitor’s attention, whose friendship they all vied for. ”

Dropping her voice to a low, steady monotone, the Lady glanced sideways at the Maid, adjusting her monocle as she did so.

“To the extent that they’d all make their own excuses to visit the traitor’s home, they became a slave to the curse’s poison… And fighting over the sewing scissors that the traitor had gifted to the four of them— no, not just normal sewing scissors. The vessel of the sin of envy, the twin pair of scissors forged from the metal of the sacred Twin Blades of Levianta, they…”

As he listened intently to the Lady and Maid’s conversation in the dining room, E-ki’s heart thumped wildly against his chest as if wanting to escape the confines of his ribcage. What in the world was this…? The milk tea that the Maid served him earlier was indeed superbly delicious; he would be willing to call it first-class.

But, he bore no jealousy, or envy, or hatred for anyone else… and he didn’t particularly yearn for anybody’s attention… or so he thought. Still, E-ki couldn’t pass off their conversation as just idle chat.

E-ki wanted to shake away his rising panic somehow, but he only kept thinking of bad things instead. He’d have to get away from there and find a place to calm down. Right as he quietly moved away from the doors…

* * *

“What are you doooing~?”

He turned around, jaw dropping in surprise. Behind him stood the Butler, with a cheerful yet somehow imposing smile on his face. E-ki was petrified with fear, unable to make a sound, but he heard the two in the dining room rise from their chairs. The Butler took initiative, pulling open the doors and entering the dining room with a languid stride.

Finally recovering from the shock of him showing up, E-ki timidly followed behind the Butler after a few seconds of hesitance. The Lady and Maid looked surprised, but the monocle-wearing girl quickly replaced her wide grin. The Maid instead went back into the kitchen to prepare some tea for the uninvited guests, grumbling all the while.

“Wow… what an inappropriate time to be digging in to some snacks, milady!” The Butler chirped brightly, his purple eyes glimmering with mischievous cheer.

“Oh? Surely a short little break such as this is fine~!” The Lady shot back with the same glint in her pink irises, unwilling to back down. “Less haste, more speed, as they say.”

“People also say to strike while the iron is hot… it’s just an issue of values, not that the Maid has any.” With a wink, the Butler spoke in a sing-song voice, a shout of indignation coming from the Maid as she poked her head out of the kitchen, blowing a raspberry at the taller boy. “The both of you, always idling whenever you get the chance. Tsk, tsk… that’s no good at all~!”

“My goodness, dear Butler of ours! You’re too strict for your own good. We’ve absolutely been searching all over, not wasting our time! Right, dear Maid?”

“Um?! W- why… yeah…?” The Maid spluttered incoherently from within the kitchen, not expecting to be dragged into the argument. The shriek of a kettle’s whistle rose above the sound of her voice, only to be silenced a few seconds later. “I’ve already searched my portion of the theatre, see! Yeah!”

“…Well, pardon my impudence, then.” The Butler sighed, backing down and bowing in apology to the still-smiling Lady in front of him. “However, the Lord has given me instructions to ensure that you two are performing your required tasks. And taking breaks to sit down and chatter… you must cut down on that, understood?”

“Yeah, yeah, ya damn creep.” The Maid scoffed while rolling her eyes, barely listening to the Butler’s words.

“Well, dear Butler, though idle chat it may seem… don’t you think it might contain a tremendous hint, hm~? And our dear Maid, she’s fighting off the pangs of hunger, so she’s none too pleased.” The Lady explained, carelessly waving her hand at the wine glass standing on its pedestal in the kitchen, as if blaming the artefact for that problem. “So as a last resort, I’ve allowed her to serve some brioche as a light snack. Come on, won’t you join us as well?”

“…I worry for what lies ahead, even if the both of you do not.” Sighing, the Butler shook his head in disappointment. “I merely used up much of my stamina, and came to check on you before I continue in my search. I’ll be returning shortly.”

“Ufufu… oh my, my, what a cold-hearted servant I seem to have. If possible, I’d like to finish this up and drink tea while watching some television or whatnot.”

“Milady…?”

“Nothing, nothing, it’s just that I’ve reached the end of my line, it seems.” Chuckling quietly to herself, the Lady leaned back in her seat, eyelids half-shut in fatigue. “Say, what about you, little Dreamer? Take a break, won’t you? Would you like some milk tea to go with brioche? Our dear Maid’s milk tea really is wonderful, isn’t it? It just calms your troubled heart… ah! That’s the third time already~!”

* * *

As E-ki silently stood there, wondering when to butt into the three’s conversation, the Lady once again recommended him tea using the same word-for-word line. He hesitated, unable to respond right away, but the Maid took it as a sign of confirmation and immediately began to prepare it.

“…”

Curious about that earlier conversation, E-ki wondered; could he somehow ask them for the details?

“Um… about what you two were talking about before…”

“Ah, you heard it?”

“U- uhm… I was going to speak up, but I couldn’t find the right time to interrupt. So it kind of ended up being like eavesdropping, sorry.”

“Not a problem at all, dear~! Just a bit of idle gossip between girls; you see, what really gets me going is a horror story of the occult-ish kind.” Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, the Lady began to explain with a giggle. “So from time to time, the residents of this theatre ask me to recite a tale in order to quell their boredom. Honestly, though, I don’t understand why they don’t just read one of the Playwright’s scripts.”

“Ahem! Well, that’s because of the fact that milady’s incredible storytellin’ ability makes it all so much better!” The Maid interjected, praising the Lady with a brilliant grin. “After all, readin’ the scripts over and over again can only bring so much entertainment before they start to get pret-ty predictable.”

“Well, even in such a large library, I suppose we’ve had enough time to read through every single book on the shelves, did we not?” Conceding her point, the Butler laughed, leaning his head on a gloved hand. “The Doll Twins have been going on and on about this incident being ‘a major incident, a harbinger of something huge, something bad will happen for sure!’… but in all honesty, it all seems a little too much like a fairytale…”

“And that’s why yer called the Foolish Butler, brat.” The Maid chided, swatting at the Butler’s shoulder in annoyance. “That daydreamin’ attitude of yours will getcha killed, one day!”

“Just think about it, my dears! This clearly isn’t just a normal theft, an ordinary criminal act! Ufufu… no, something else is definitely at work…”

* * *

The conversation wasn’t really going anywhere like this, so E-ki spontaneously interrupted.

“—So! Um, what was all that about a curse…?”

“Oh, that? Well, we were talkin’ about how the culprit could possibly steal the script and be seen by no one… no, not even by any of us who always passed by the main stage! Erm, then it switched to how someone could force somebody else to do it at their bidding… huh?”

“Yes. She said that it was impossible… so to prove her wrong and explain how such a thing could be done, I started using a murder mystery as an example. I swear, our dear Maid’s always making me jump around between this and that; we were talking about a theft, and all of a sudden it’s as if we were suddenly trapped in a horror story. She makes me get much too caught up in it all!”

“W- well, I mean… milady! When ya start talking, you just keep heatin’ up, and… no, ya start boilin’ over! Don’t blame that on me!”

“…So, as you can see.” Tapping his slender fingers on the table, the Butler shot a charming smile at E-ki, who sunk deeper into his seat in response. “Please don’t concern yourself about it; there was probably no deep meaning to their conversation, alright?”

“…O- okay.”

The three of them smiled as they tried to clear E-ki’s concerns. Then the Maid finished up and set down teacups for the four of them; warm steam swirled through the chilly air, rising from the surface of the delicious-looking royal milk tea. He’d carefully watched the Maid’s movements while everybody else was talking, but saw nothing unnatural about them… like sneaking in poison.

First-rate milk tea that had been affected by a cursed spoon in order to poison four children’s minds. After hearing a story like that… they could tell him it was unrelated, but it wouldn’t make E-ki any more willing to drink the tea set down in front of him.

The tea… in the teacup… set down in front of him… huh?

* * *

Feeling that same sense of desperate urgency he felt before, E-ki’s gaze went unfocused as a burst of static exploded in his ears. His breathing quickened, before suddenly slowing to an almost-stop as his eyes refocused on the teaspoon that lay on the saucer.

Noticing the small piece of paper tied to the spoon, E-ki quickly swiped it before the other three even realized it was there.

“…Wait, wait! That’s not supposed to be there—!”

With the three of them abruptly reaching their hands out to snatch the paper away from him, E-ki reacted by springing from his seat and pulling at the tablecloth, causing a chain reaction. The Lady, Maid and Butler yelped in surprise as teacups and saucers were sent crashing downwards towards the floor.

Taking advantage of their momentary lapse in attention, E-ki ran towards the kitchen, hurriedly untying the paper from the spoon and silently reading its contents.

“Dreamer! No!”

“Ah…”

Just as his mind finished processing the letter’s last words, the three appeared by the kitchen door, blocking off his escape.

“Now, now… don’t be rash… please, just give us that letter and we won’t do anything…” The Lady pleaded, her strong voice faltering at the end of the sentence.

Won’t do anything?

(What a joke.)

The hurt of betrayal flashed in E-ki’s eyes as he reached blindly behind his back, wincing as his hands were burnt by hot metal.

(There's no point in waiting.)

The kettle…

* * *

“       can’t  you  ! ”

Ignoring the heat that threatened to burn his skin off, E-ki grabbed the pot of boiling water with his bare hands and hurled it towards the three in front of him, laughing and grinning savagely as they screamed in pain.

In the throes of his ecstatic insanity, E-ki didn’t manage to notice a shadowy figure sneaking up on his back, carrying twin pairs of scissors in hand…

No, not even when the three scalded, disfigured actors reached their reddened and melted hands out to him did E-ki notice the one raising the two pairs of sewing blades above his head.

(Demise∞enD #1203…)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Well then, it looks like you've accepted my terms, haven't you?"
> 
> The laughing voice rang out in the empty darkness, enveloping A-ya in white noise.
> 
> A-ya nodded his head, and was rewarded with another piece of the puzzle.
> 
> "...So, you think this world is a little... boring, do you not? That's why you make up those rumours, in order to chase away the mundane everyday."
> 
> "And what of it?"
> 
> "My dear Clockwork Narrator, have you heard of the rumour from 1 year ago? Of the one still dreaming in room 1713?"
> 
> Strange. A-ya's made up various rumours in his endless boredom, and he's heard many more during his travels through the darker corners of the internet in search of rumour material.
> 
> "Even now, it's said that the boy is still sleeping on a small bed."
> 
> "What does all that have to do with us?"
> 
> "Patience, Narrator. This time, I'll talk about a dream he had of a certain day."


	17. Re:Write 2.3: Perfect Crime Love Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first off: im so so sorry for an incredibly late update!! wow!! especially since i practically promised that i would update this like twice every month?? incredible.
> 
> secondly, this fic is going on indefinite hiatus. honestly i have lost almost all motivation to keep working on it, and the others in my writing team similarly are going through things in life that arent exactly permitting them to keep helping me write/edit/beta, so... (also this reason is especially selfish but ever since victor took down the shuuen page and it seems like shuuenpro will never continue, i dont feel like i even LIKE shuuen no shiori anymore since, even tho its super-hypocritical of me to say this, i absolutely hate stories that dont have a happy ending, even less if it has no ending at all. sorry)

First-rate milk tea that had been affected by a cursed spoon in order to poison four children’s minds. After hearing a story like that… they could tell him it was unrelated, but it wouldn’t make E-ki any more willing to drink the tea set down in front of him.

The tea—

“Ah! Oh dear!” The Lady exclaimed, pointing to the saucer that held E-ki’s teacup; a teaspoon lay to the side of the cup, somehow managing to escape his attention before. “Maid, didn’t you use that spoon to stir the tea? How rude! Don’t just leave it on our guest’s plate!”

“Oh, how embarrassing!” The Butler chided, taking the spoon and handing it to the Maid, whose face went red. “Such a simple mistake shouldn’t be done by a high-calibre servant such as you, Maid!”

“H- hey! Sh- shut up!” Squeaking in barely-contained anger and embarrassment, the Maid forcibly changed the subject. “S- so, from the looks of things, nobody’s found anythin’ yet?”

“Indeed. I’m sure that the moment someone finds something, the whole theatre will be in an uproar…” Returning her attention to the piece of cloth in her hands, the Lady resumed her tailoring, two pairs of sewing scissors neatly placed beside her plate of brioche.

Strange… were the two tailor shears always there? E-ki shook his head, clearing the haze from his mind. He must be really out of it for even _that_ to go unnoticed.

Taking a sip of the hot drink, the Butler returned the cup to its saucer with a satisfied sigh, his expression much more relaxed than before. Truly, the Maid’s tea was superb if it could even cause the uptight Butler to wind down a bit.

“Right, right… if it was stolen and hidden away, I don’t expect it to be found just like that.” The Lady conceded, drumming her fingers on the table in a steady, three-beat rhythm. “To be honest, I’d be disappointed the traitor used nothing less than a truly surprising method of concealing it~! How about you, little Dreamer?”

“…I helped a little with the eastern side of the ground floor… but we didn’t find anything there…”

"Oh… well, that's a shame. Still, we mustn't give up just yet~!"

"Ah, y-yeah. You're right."

* * *

While the conversation went on, E-ki still couldn’t bring himself to touch the teacup. Somehow, he could feel the Maid glaring at him the longer he left it there. The Butler claimed it was just idle talk, but… he still couldn’t help but be caught up in it. E-ki stole a glance at the Lady, sitting across the table from him. Her smile gave off the impression that it had a delicious taste, as she held the teacup close to her mouth… the teacup full of milk tea.

But E-ki was still hung up on what the Maid had said earlier. “Besides, milady, you don’t actually like milk tea that much, do you…?” To which the Lady replied, “…I suppose you have a point.”

What did she mean by that? Something felt strange about the way she worded her answer. Why, when it would make sense to simply reply “you’re right”, did she say “you have a point” after a long pause…?

Maybe the Lady, upon the Maid pointing it out, realized that she doesn’t like milk tea as much as she thought— but drinking it all the time and having it recommended to her by the others simply convinced her that those were her own thoughts… that could be it.

It could just be a little insignificant thing, but E-ki couldn’t shake off the strange feeling that plagued his thoughts.

The way that all the inhabitants of the theatre kept recommending the delicious milk tea… was there a particular reason why they wanted people to drink it so much? And the case of the Marlon Spoon they had just been talking about… ah!

* * *

Eyes widening in shock, E-ki forced himself to maintain his clueless outward appearance, the gears starting to move in his mind. The puzzle pieces had fallen into place; it all fit perfectly together. Offering a guest some tea would be unnatural if the Maid were doing it out of nowhere. So the one who invited him couldn’t have been the Maid, but someone else at the movie theatre where she lived… yes, most likely the Lady. She would praise the Maid’s tea and treat the visitor to it. Visitor being, in this case, E-ki himself.

Wasn’t that the most natural flow of things? That the traitor had an accomplice…

“Well, Dreamer-boy, where will you search next?” Crossing her arms across her chest and huffing, the Maid asked. “Most of the rooms on the ground floor are done, so milady and I’ll be heading to the study in a short while. After a bit more of a break…”

“Did milord tell you to help anyone on the first floor? If not, you could come and assist me.” The Butler offered, pushing back a stray strand of hair that had fallen across his striking purple eyes.

“No, he didn’t specify anyone… oh! Wait!”

That’s right; E-ki had completely forgotten about the Lord’s message.

“Mister Lord told me to ask Missus Lady if she’s ‘still working on the storytelling thing’…”

The moment the words rolled off E-ki’s tongue, the Lady’s face twisted into an ugly expression for a split second, before being replaced by an obviously forced smile. Her mild look of amusement was never interrupted except when she was worked up over telling a story, but now she took on a sour, visibly displeased grimace. The Maid let out a sigh, and the Butler stared down at the tea splashing against the sides of his teacup as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Still working on the storytelling,” that, he could understand, but why “still working on the storytelling _thing_ ”? E-ki felt something wrong about the Lady’s actions, and now that feeling multiplied by a trillion-fold in the awkward silence. He felt that hidden underneath it all was something only the residents of the Clockwork Theatre knew about, and that weighed heavy on his mind.

Even if the members of the Occult Film Club had been completely transformed into the inhabitants of the play’s fake world, E-ki still felt of a tinge of sorrow at the feeling of being left out.

“…I think that’s enough of a break.” Setting down his now-empty teacup, the Butler offered a hand to E-ki, who timidly took it after a moment’s hesitation. “Now, little Dreamer, would you help me search the rest of the rooms I was assigned to?”

Without waiting for his reply, the Butler stood up from his seat, bid farewell to the Lady and Maid, and left the room. E-ki quietly thanked them for the tea and hurried after the Butler’s retreating figure. The Lady’s gaze turned downwards, staring at the spoon lodged in her dessert bun, and E-ki couldn’t see her expression as the dining room’s doors creaked shut behind him.

* * *

E-ki and the Butler returned to the hallway and made their way up the western staircase. Reaching the first floor and heading towards the first lower-left room, they entered a bedroom which surely belonged to the Doll Twins.

Three sides of the fairly large room were lined with rows upon rows of things like teddy bears and plush dolls. When E-ki reached out to grab one, something strange happened; the toy didn’t budge, and remained stuck to the wall. While he gawked in confusion, the Butler shook his head and chuckled.

“This world is just the world of a screenplay, so to speak.” He explained patiently, regarding E-ki as one would regard a small child. “Plays have many things which serve no purpose beyond being props and eye-candy, and so they exist in that state here as well… they don’t need to fulfill any purpose greater than that.”

That made E-ki suddenly recall something; when he was searching the kitchen with the Lord, he felt a mysterious pull towards the golden knife that just happened to be there, and despite him attempting to slice his own finger, no pain or blood came out. E-ki thought that just meant the knife’s blade was dulled and didn’t dwell on it further.

But in truth, it didn’t function at all because it was just scenery for the play… if he’d tried to use it, it probably wouldn’t have fulfilled its normal purpose as a knife.

Yet, there were definitely items like tea and kettles that worked as expected… E-ki asked what the difference was, and the Butler said there were objects which could only be used by those who would “naturally” use them, as well as inaccessible rooms. The Doll Twins’ bedroom, for example, could only be normally entered by the Doll Twins themselves as well as the Butler whom they often chatted with, and not by anybody else without good reason.

So the characters did have certain principles acting on them to preserve order in the play. And perhaps E-ki too, as the lead role, had limits on his thoughts and actions that he couldn’t even perceive. Though for right now, it seemed like he could help the others out and move around freely, definitely much more than they could…

* * *

E-ki gave a glance to the Butler standing beside him and finally noticed the sheathed sword attached to his belt. He felt that same desperate feeling… no, no! It felt wrong, it felt malicious somehow… but he needed to… that sword…

“Ah, that…” Speaking up, E-ki forced himself to talk instead of letting his hands wander, fighting against that twisted sense of urgency.

“This?” The Butler took the sword out of its sheath, not noticing E-ki’s inner struggle to remain in control of his actions. “This is the Venom Sword, my original body. It’s a bit tiring to lug it around, but I know milord would be angry if I left in the display gallery… especially in this time of danger. It’s quite beautifully made, for a tool of violence. What do you think?”

“I’ve never actually seen a sword up close before…” He was sweating bullets now, his fingers twitching in their desire to just grab the long blade out of the Butler’s hands. Still, E-ki fought valiantly, closing his shaking hands into fists. “But the people who collect them really seem to love it.”

“Yes… I suppose that’s true.”

As per the script, each of the Clockwork Theater’s residents inhabited an inanimate object before awakening in human-like forms. E-ki bit his lip; so far he had seen two such vessels, four perhaps if the spoon and the twin pairs of scissors he saw belonged to the Maid and the Lady respectively.

After the Butler sheathed his sword, they searched carefully through all the little gaps in between the toys attached to the wall, but of course found nothing of note. The play-movie’s time was still passing on as they worked. E-ki had started to neglect it while focusing on helping in the search for the missing page, but he had to think about E— the objective of the person who sealed them in here at the same time.

While he tried to keep that in his head, at times he found himself momentarily forgetting that he was “E-ki”.

Maybe it was because everyone had slipped so naturally into this fake imitation world. Maybe with his tendency to daydream, E-ki lacked a clear distinction between reality and fiction. Besides, it was easy to go along with the surrounding atmosphere.

Even with the knowledge that the world belonged to the unwritten script, E-ki went along with everything as if it were reality.

* * *

Losing his concentration, E-ki’s gaze swivelled back to the sword in its sheath at the Butler’s belt. The leather covering was very faded, and that alone told him of how unmeasurably ancient it was.

“Has something caught your eye?” The Butler’s eyes sparkled with mirth, pulling the sword from its covering and presenting it once more to E-ki. “This blade is quite old. It was in fact forged by the fires of passion, of a childhood love between a noble and a mere servant. A love that failed to persevere through the harsh tidings of adulthood… the servant… imitating his envied brother’s appearance… harem in the basement of the mansion… a man wearing a wig and a dress… stabbed…”

As the Butler droned on and one with his explanation, E-ki’s eyes wandered around the room, before returning to the Venom Sword held in the other boy’s hands. Something was drawing him to the artifact, something that told him— told him to…

A folded piece of paper was tied to the middle of the long blade.

“…”

The dam holding back the malicious rot that tainted his mind broke, and with it a torrent of mindless static gushed into his ears and overwhelmed the rest of his thoughts.

E-ki reached out and grabbed the sword with his bare hands, heedless to the pain and blood wreaking havoc on his hands as his fingers tightened around the violet-coloured blade.

“D- Dreamer, what are you— ghk!”

Choking out a gasp, the Butler stumbled dizzily backwards. E-ki had forcibly pulled the sword out his grasp and swung it at the taller boy’s head, the blunt handle hitting his forehead with such force that it left him seeing stars.

His feet snagged against a stray doll, and the Butler tumbled into the grasp of a large teddy bear, clutching at his throbbing temple. E-ki threw the sword downwards, shooting the blade a disgusted look, before advancing upon the Butler with malice gleaming in his golden eyes.

“       can’t  you anymore! ”

* * *

Momentarily disabled, the Butler could only look up with bleary eyes as E-ki approached, hands bloody and eyes struggling to focus on the brunet boy. Scarlet-stained fingers snaked their way around the Butler’s neck, and E-ki slowly tightened his grip, relishing the pained whimpers the purple-eyed boy gave out with a maddened grin.

‘Ah…’ C-ta thought, closing his eyes with a resigned smile as the life slowly drained out of his body, ‘forgive me, A-ya. I failed to save you after all…’

Neither of them noticed the shadowy figure materializing in the room and picking up the Venom Sword, testing its weight in their hands before raising it high above E-ki’s head, aiming to kill.

(Demise∞enD #1713…)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Silence floated listlessly through the air. With each passing second, agonizingly slow as it ticked by, A-ya felt his patience wearing thinner. But something was stopping him from speaking up.
> 
> Maybe it was the suffocating silence. Maybe it was the screaming static.
> 
> Maybe it was the masked figure sitting in the chair in front of him, shoulders hunched over in apparent defeat.
> 
> He didn't even question the sudden change of scenery. Just a moment before, A-ya thought himself alone in a world of nothingness, with only the maddening flicker of lights from a TV screen to keep him company. But now here he was, standing behind a teacher's desk in a dimly-lit classroom, chairs and tables haphazardly strewn everywhere save for a single, yellow pair placed in the middle of the room.
> 
> The masked boy heaved a reluctant sigh, straightening his back and bringing his hands to rest upon the yellow table's surface.
> 
> "I suppose now's a good time as any other."
> 
> A-ya raised an eyebrow.
> 
> "For what?"
> 
> "To tell you. The truth."
> 
> Red eyes opened wider.
> 
> "The truth about what happened. One year ago... as well as ten years ago."


End file.
